Harry Potter, Dark Phoenix
by dbzdragonlanceman
Summary: AU! Harry is captured by the Death Eaters, and subjected to torture. Will the wizarding world ever be the same in Harry's eyes?
1. Return to the Dursleys

Chapter 1:

Return to the Dursleys

The train station had passed out of sight behind the Dursley's car as Harry sat in the back seat in a stupor. He had barely registered that the car was new, and that the three Dursley's seemed to constantly be casting anxious glances at him before quickly averting their gaze lest he look up. The journey from King's Cross to Number Four Privet drive was made in complete silence except for the hum of the car engine and the sound of wind whipping past the windows. The car finally stopped in front of the Dursleys home, and the three Dursleys got out of the car and walked into the house without a word to Harry.

Harry sat in the car for at least an hour before he finally realized that he was alone, and decided to get out of the car. He flipped the release and got his trunk and Hedwig's cage out of the boot. He had let Hewig free at the station, so that she could fly back to the house. Harry slowly trudged into the house and deposited his trunk and Hedwig's cage in the floor. Then, he lay down on the lump that the Dursleys called his bed, and fell quickly into a deep sleep.

The next day, Harry awoke to find several owls waiting for him to wake up. He removed the post to see that it was from all his friends. He assumed that they were all intended to be letters telling him to feel better, and not to lose hope. However, at this point, Harry wasn't in the mood for such letters. So, he threw them directly into the waste bin without opening them. All except for one. This letter was from none other than the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore.

A hint of anger flared inside of Harry at the sight of Dumbledore's name, but was snuffed away just as quickly as it was born, and was replaced by a sigh of resignation. The owl that had brought this letter seemed to be awaiting a reply, so Harry quickly opened the letter.

__

Harry,

I have sent this letter to inform you that the Order will be keeping a much closer watch on you than before. There will be guards around Little Whinging for the duration of your stay at Privet Drive, and we will also be expecting updates on your relatives treatment of you in the coming days. I look forward to having you out of that house by your birthday, but until then I must ask you to remain inside the house. The owl that you see before you will appear every third day for a progress report from you. Send one back with her now to signify that you understand and agree with the instructions that I have given you.

Headmaster of Hogwarts

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Harry gave a snort as he quickly grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill to quickly scribble a return message.

A short time later the owl returned to Hogwarts bearing Harry's answer. Dumbledore took the parchment from the owl's leg to find a very cryptic message.

__

Dumbledore,

I received your letter and understand your instructions. However, agreement and understanding are very different things.

Harry

Dumbledore gave a sigh and said aloud, "This could be very bad."

Harry's time at Privet Drive was anything but fun. However, the days had settled themselves into a nice routine that Harry could function within, if not necessarily live. He awoke in them mornings and walked downstairs to breakfast. Then, he would eat whatever food that his aunt sat before him. Next, he would trudge up the stairs to the smallest bedroom of the house where he would return to his bed and lay back down on his bed. He would spend the day in apathetic half slumber until it was time to go downstairs for dinner. Here, he would yet again, eat whatever portion of food that was placed in front of him, and then, once more drag himself up the stairs to drop unceremoniously onto his bed. This routine was only punctuated by the owls that arrived almost every morning from Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, or Luna, and the owl from Dumbledore.

Harry made sure to respond to Dumbledore in an effort to keep wizards from invading Privet Drive, but Harry had yet to answer or even read a letter from his friends. He simply couldn't bring himself to even open them. They continued to arrive with monotonous regularity through the course of the next three weeks however.

Finally it was the night before he was to go to Grimmauld Place. The last letter from Dumbledore had informed him that that would be his destination. Harry, however, would have preferred to remain at Privet Drive over returning to Sirius' house. He prepared himself for the inevitable pain that returning to that house would bring. He also prepared himself for the inevitable fit that his friends were likely to have with him for not deigning to answer their letters. Hermione and Ginny especially would have several choice words for him.

Harry sighed to himself as these thoughts flashed through his mind while he packed the few things that he had removed from his trunk in an effort to provide some sort of distraction for his mind. These things had proven to be very unhelpful and had been left strewn around his room. His book _Flying With the Cannons_, several textbooks, and his list of school assignments. 

Harry had even attempted to break himself out of his funk by staring at his O.W.L. scores, but even these had done little to assuage the overwhelming guilt and depression that seemed likely to envelop his very being. He glanced at them one last time before dropping the parchment into his trunk.

O.W.L. results for Harry James Potter

AstronomyA

Care of Magical CreaturesO

CharmsE

Defense Against the Dark ArtsO

DivinationA

HerbologyE

History of MagicP

PotionsA

TransfigurationE

Harry assumed that Hermione would be ecstatic about his scores, but that couldn't even lighten his dismal attitude. As Harry was completing his packing and locking his trunk, an explosion rocked Privet Drive. Harry quickly looked out his window to see Death Eaters surrounding the house in battle with several members of the Order. However, it was very obvious that the Order was badly outnumbered by at least twenty Death Eaters. Harry drew his wand and immediately went out into the hall. His aunt and uncle stood in the doorway of their room while Dudley cowered at the other end of the hall.

Uncle Vernon demanded in a loud harsh voice, "What is going on, boy?"

Harry put a finger to his lips and said, "Shhh. There are Death Eaters around the house. I don't know if they have gotten inside yet."

Aunt Petunia asked fearfully, "What are Death Eaters?"

Harry snorted, "Servants of Lord Voldemort."

Vernon hissed, "What are they doing here, boy?"

Harry shrugged but answered, "I'm sure they are here to capture me, but they will kill Muggles like you without hesitation. Now, stay upstairs."

Harry proceeded to walk down the hallway and crept down the stairs to see several masked figures entering through the front door. A rage that Harry had never known came over him. Without thinking at all, Harry leaped into sight of the Death Eaters and began hurling curses as fast as he could. He took them completely by surprise and dropped them all with well placed Stunning Spells, and Full Body Binds, but unfortunately for the young hero, he did not notice that there were a couple of Death Eaters already well inside the house, and these two dropped him with a Stunning Spell apiece. Then, the Death Eaters performed the counter curses on their comrades, and they Portkeyed away from the house. The outside attackers Apparated away as reinforcements from the Order and the Ministry appeared in Little Whinging.

Dumbledore met up with Tonks, who had been on duty outside Harry's home, and asked, "What happened?"

Tonks shrugged, "Death Eaters popped in all over the street. Kingsley, Dung, Moody and I did the best that we could but there were just too many of them. They got inside the house, Dumbledore. I don't know if they got to Harry or not."

Remus and Mr. Weasley walked up to hear this, and both of them exchanged a panicked look with Dumbledore before all four of them hurried into Number Four Privet Drive. Remus yelled out as he ran in the door, "Harry? Harry?" He looked around wildly as Tonks, Dumbledore, and Mr. Weasley echoed his calls. Remus shouted again, "Oh god, don't do this to us, Harry!"

At the sounds of the voiced screaming Harry's name, Vernon and Petunia appeared at the top of the stairs. Vernon demanded, "What is the meaning of all this noise?"

Dumbledore spoke quickly, "Where is Harry?"

Petunia shrugged, "He came downstairs and we heard shouting, and then it was quiet. A few moments later, the four of you came in and began shouting again. That's all we know."

It took little time to organize a search of the house and surrounding area. It was quite obvious that Harry was gone.

A few hours later, the Order was assembled at Grimmauld Place in the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley had been demanding to know what had happened since her husband and the others had returned, but they had all refused to answer her. Finally, Dumbledore stood at the head of the long rectangular table and said, "Now, that we are all here, we can begin. I am afraid that I have terrible news. Voldemort succeeded in breaking down the wards that have long kept Harry safe at Privet Drive. The Death Eaters launched an attack that the guards around Harry's home were unable to stop in time."

Mrs Weasley screamed out, "What do you mean in time, Albus?! Is Harry still alive?"

Dumbledore's shoulders sagged, "I'm afraid that we have no idea what shape Harry is in. He has been taken by the Death Eaters."

A pall of defeat and dismay settled around the table, until Severus Snape snorted and said, "The way all of you are acting, you would think that our only hope just died. This is war and there will be casualties. I, for one, think we have wasted far too much time attempting to protect that one boy. He wasn't worth the lives of everyone."

The minute the words had left his mouth, Snape knew that he should have never spoke them to this crowd. By the time he had barely finished speaking, four Weasley boys had tackled him to the ground, and began beating the living hell out of him. After several minutes, Albus finally said, "That is enough, boys."

Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George got up from the floor where they had been pummeling the Potions professor, each of them pausing as they stood for one last well placed kick. Then, they each returned to their seat. Snape struggled back to his feet, only to be knocked right back on his ass by a furious Molly Weasley. She leaned in very low over Snape and said menacingly, "If I ever hear of you speaking that way about Harry again, I will kill you myself." Then, she turned around and walked back over to the other side of the table and returned to her seat, where she promptly burst into tears as Arthur draped an arm around her.

Kingsley cleared his throat and then asked, "What are we going to do about this, Albus? I hate to be the one to bring this up, but You-Know-Who will kill Harry quickly if we don't get to him."

Albus shook his head, "No, Voldemort will not kill Harry quickly. He won't take the chance of it blowing up in his face again. He will take his time and torture him, because Harry has information he needs."

Bill asked, "What information is that?"

Albus sighed, "The contents of the Prophecy."

Remus whipped his head around, "You mean that Harry knows what it says?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, I felt that it was finally necessary for him to know. Now, with the current situation, I think that you all should hear the Prophecy. Severus, you inadvertently hit the proverbial nail on the head as the Muggle saying goes. Harry Potter is our only hope of defeating Voldemort."

Albus pulled his Pensieve out of a cabinet and swirled it around to make the memory of Sybyll Trelawney rise out of the mist.

THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES … BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES … AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT … AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES … THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES…

The room fell silent in shock as they absorbed the impact of the words. Fred gulped and asked, "So, that Prophecy is talking about Harry?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, Mr. Weasley, there can be no doubt that Harry is the only one that can destroy Voldemort. As Voldemort is the only one that can destroy Harry, but neither of them will die easily, so Voldemort will bide his time about attempting to kill Harry until he knows the Prophecy. Which means that we have a little time to find and rescue Harry, but not much. We can only hope that we get to him in time. Severus, you must locate where Voldemort is keeping Harry." Dumbledore turned to the other end of the table as Snape quickly departed, "Alastor, you and Kingsley will have to coordinate things from the Minstry end of things. Try to put surveillance on all of the suspected Inner Circle Death Eaters. If Severus is unable to locate Harry, perhaps one of them will lead us to him."

Once the meeting was finished, everyone departed to go about their duties. Dumbledore turned to Molly, "Molly, if you will, go and get Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. They will need to be told of this."

Mrs. Weasley walked upstairs and woke each of the three sleeping youngsters. They each protested about being awakened at such an early hour, but each of them trudged down to the kitchen to see Dumbledore.

Hermione asked, "Professor, does this have something to do with Harry not answering our letters this summer. I know you told us that we should expect something like this, but that doesn't mean that we're going to let him off the hook when he gets here later today."

Dumbledore gulped as tears sprang to his eyes, "No, child, I wish that was why I was here, but I have much graver news. Harry will not be coming here today. He was captured last night by Death Eaters in Little Whinging."

The three teenagers stopped stunned as they took in this information. Ginny asked in a trembling voice, "Is he alive?"

Dumbledore could only shrug, "We don't know, yet, but we believe him to be at this time. We can only hope we find him before anything too terrible happens. I ask each of you to hold onto that hope for Harry's sake. When he returns, he will need you to be optimistic for him at all costs."

Dumbledore turned his head to hide his own grief as the three teenagers broke down into sobs at this news. Molly drew the three into a hug, as Dumbledore beat a hasty retreat from the room. He muttered to himself as he left Grimmauld Place to return to Hogwarts, "Forgive us, Harry, and hang on."

A/N: This is a little brainchild I have had bouncing around inside my head for some time. Anything else will be put on hold for this story, because I can't seem to get it out of my head. Expect some stronger language and more sexual themes and overtones, not to mention violence than my other fics. This will be a pretty long story, but shouldn't approach novel length. I would estimate fifty thousand words at most, but we'll see how much it takes to tell the story. I'm going to try to keep up one posting a week until its done, and it should be about ten or twelve chapters. Hope you all enjoy. Till next time.


	2. Harry's Rescue

Chapter 2:

Harry's Rescue

Harry awoke to find himself in a dark room. All he could make out of his surroundings was the bars that were in his direct line of vision, since he was shackled to a hard stone wall with water dripping down behind his back. His shirt was soaked, and there was the chill of death in the room.

After standing awake in the room for several hours, Harry finally heard the sounds of shuffling feet and hushed voices approaching. The light in the room brightened enough for Harry to truly make out his surroundings. The room was no larger than his bedroom at Privet Drive and contained nothing to soften the menacing effect of the shackle filled stone walls with blood stains coating most of the walls surrounding Harry.

A few moments later four Death Eaters filed into the room and two stood on either side of him. They stood waiting for a moment before a fifth Death Eater entered the room and stood directly in front of Harry. He removed his mask to reveal his face. It was none other than Lucius Malfoy.

Harry was surprised to see the senior Malfoy in front of him, but his face betrayed none of his surprise. He merely snorted, "Lucius, I see that Voldemort has freed his lap dog from its chains."

Lucius' face swelled with fury, "Yes, the Dark Lord has seen fit to reward me for my efforts despite our failure to retrieve the Prophecy. He has given me a second chance to retrieve it for him. We know that you have the full contents of the Prophecy within your mind, but the information is protected, and can only be revealed by you willingly. So, I am going to ask you to yield the contents of the Prophecy."

Harry laughed directly in Lucius' face, "If you think that I am going to give in that easily, you don't know me very well. Unlike you, I answer to no one, and I will not be ordered around either. So, you can go to hell."

Lucius Malfoy smirked in a fashion that was very similar to the junior Malfoy that Harry dealt with at Hogwarts on a regular basis. He said, "I expected such a response from you. Now, we will proceed with convincing you that telling us what we want to know is your best option." Lucius drew his wand and pointed it at Harry, "Crucio!"

Harry jerked and writhed in pain against the metal shackles that bound him to the wall. However, he refused to scream. After a few moments Lucius removed the curse and asked, "So, do you wish to reveal your secret now, Potter?"

Harry laughed in Lucius' face once again, "If you think that I will break after so little, then you are very mistaken about what kind of wizard I am. You fear Voldemort, and he fears me."

Lucius snarled, "The Dark Lord does not fear you, Potter!"

Harry returned Lucius' earlier smirk, "I don't see him here, nor did I see him when you attacked Privet Drive. I'd say that qualifies as fear."

Lucius wasted no time in subjecting Harry to the Cruciatus Curse once again. He held him under the curse for a considerably longer period of time before releasing it. Then, the next Death Eater stepped up and held him under the Cruciatus Curse. This continued until each of the Death Eaters had performed the curse on him twice, and Harry was left unconscious. Lucius snorted, "We will return after he wakes up, and then we will see how willing he is to talk." The Death Eaters followed Lucius from the room, leaving Harry to sag against his bonds as blood seeped from his nose and mouth.

Several hours later, Harry awoke and spat blood out of his mouth and looked around at his surroundings groggily. He muttered to himself, "I don't know how long I can take this. Well, I hope the Order finds me soon."

Meanwhile, another Order meeting was taking place at Grimmauld Place. Everyone was sitting around fidgeting while awaiting Severus Snape to show up. Finally, he popped in through the Floo. Dumbledore and the Weasleys all stood up. Dumbledore asked anxiously, "What have you discovered, Severus?"

Snape replied while casting glances at the Weasleys, "The Dark Lord called us earlier to brag about capturing Potter. However, he has not disclosed where he is keeping the boy to us. He intends to have all the Death Eaters torture Potter until he reveals the contents of the Prophecy. I know that Potter has already undergone at least one torture session, because Lucius Malfoy was bragging about leading it."

Everyone seated around the table shuddered. Remus asked, "What exactly will they do to him in these torture sessions? How bad is it?"

Snape raised one eyebrow, "Do you really want to know the answer to that question?"

Remus shook his head after he thought about it for a moment, "Will you be able to find out where he is?"

Snape nodded, "Eventually, if he survives long enough, I will be asked to take a turn in torturing him. I will be able to cast a location spell once I am there. Then, we will be able to find him again."

McGonagall commented, "Surely, they will ask you sooner than most since everyone knows that you hate Harry with a passion."

Snape shrugged, "I don't know if that will be the case or not and I dare not bring it up for fear that my cover will be blown."

The Weasleys all growled at the callous statement, but did not react otherwise. Arthur asked, "Albus, will we be able to keep this information from the press?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "I'm afraid not. Voldemort has already leaked the information to his supporters inside the Ministry. It will most likely be in the morning Daily Prophet."

Bill Weasley said stonily, "The world isn't going to take this news very well."

Dumbledore shook his head solemnly, "No, they will not."

At the same time this was going on, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were sitting in Ron's room where they had been since they heard the news that Harry had been taken. They had not left the room except to go to the bathroom, and they had hardly spoken until finally Ginny asked, "Do you think they will be able to save him?"

Hermione nodded, but it was without conviction. Ron, on the other hand, snorted very loudly, "I think the more pressing question is will they try to save him?"

Hermione and Ginny both looked startled. Hermione asked darkly, "What do you mean by that, Ron?'

Ron sighed, "I think its obvious. It will most likely get several people killed to try and save Harry. So, will the Order think that it is too risky to try and save him? Is one life more important than ten? Those are the questions that they are asking themselves."

Ginny asked as tears began to fall from her eyes again, "How do you know that?"

Ron shrugged, "War strategy is a lot like chess. You have to decide which pieces to give up and which ones to protect. The same thing applies here. Do you risk the war for the sake of one battle? If they go after Harry, then they could maybe save him, but if enough people got killed saving him, then they could lose the war against You-Know-Who because of it. Then, what would they have really accomplished?"

Hermione continued very darkly, "You act like you don't care if they save Harry or not, Ron."

Ron sighed and wiped tears from his own eyes, "Harry was my friend even before he was yours, Hermione. I want him back just as much as you do, but I'm trying to be realistic. We may never see him again."

This statement caused Ginny and Hermione to burst into full blown sobs once again. Ron turned away from them without offering any kind of comfort, because he had none to give.

While all of this occurred, Harry continued to hang from the wall in his dungeon prison in the dark until another party of Death Eaters entered the room. It was the same routine as last time. Four masked figures entered the room, two going to each side of him. Then, a few moments later they were followed by a fifth Death Eater. It was immediately obvious to Harry that this Death Eater was not Lucius Malfoy, considering the height and obviously feminine curves of her body. After standing before him for a moment, the Death Eater removed her mask to reveal none other than Bellatrix Lestrange.

Harry snarled at her, "Bitch." He began struggling against his bonds with the wild abandon that reckless fury imparts to a person.

Bellatrix merely laughed and said, "Crucio!"

Harry's snarls of fury quickly changed into howls of pain, as he began to writhe under the power of the Cruciatus Curse once again. After several moments, Bellatrix released him from the curse and flashed a fake smile at him, "Does the wee Potter want the big bad Death Eater to stop torturing him?"

Harry raised one eyebrow weakly and gave Bellatrix a sneer of contempt, "One day I am going to enjoy killing you. I just have to decide if I want to kill you before or after I toast Voldemort's ass."

Bellatrix screamed, "How dare you?!" She pointed her wand at him again, "Crucio!"

She left the curse on him for an almost indefinite period before removing it, and allowing the other Death Eaters present in the room to take their turns.

The next morning, Lucius Malfoy stalked into the room with a look of glee on his face. He was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry could see that there was a picture of him during the weighing of the wands ceremony from the Tri-Wizard Tournament on the front page. He couldn't read the headline that was flashing with it though, due to the fact that he had lost his glasses at some point during the last torture session. Lucius almost bounced as he said, "Well, Potter, it seems that you have been made the center of attention once again. Let's see how well you enjoy this article about your capture by Death Eaters." Lucius began to read from the newspaper.

****

Harry Potter Captured by You-Know-Who

__

Harry Potter, also know as the Boy-Who-Lived, hero of the wizarding world for his defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the age of one, was captured by Death Eaters on the night of July 30th. This news comes as a great blow to the wizarding world, since Potter is considered to be one of the famous wizards of all time. He is considered by many to have great powers at such a young age and already has several exploits of fighting dark creatures and wizards under his belt. He has survived encounters with You-Know-Who on no less than five occasions. The wizarding world can only hope that Mr. Potter will be rescued by the Ministry forces that are searching for him, or that he will find yet again some way to escape from the clutches of the Dark Lord.

Lucius chuckled as he finished reading the article, "So, Potter, are you going to somehow magically escape and save the wizarding world from the Dark Lord?"

Harry sighed, "Yes, that is exactly what I intend to do. Voldemort can't kill me considering he is too cowardly to even face me in combat. So, once I get away from here, then I will see to finishing your precious Dark Lord once and for all."

Lucius growled, and then said, "Crucio!" Harry bit his lip and refused to scream out this time as Lucius held him under the curse. Finally, Malfoy removed the curse and said, "You don't seem so confidant now, Potter."

Harry hung against the wall breathing heavily, and then said, "You shouldn't seem so confidant either, Lucius. You claim to believe in the ideals of a wizarding society that is based solely on purebloods being the supreme class of society, and yet you willingly follow a MudBlood. How pathetic."

Lucius snarled in fury, "Crucio!" Harry writhed under the curse, but yet again refused to scream. Lucius pulled his wand away and each of the other Death Eaters in the room held Harry under the curse until he passed out from the pain, and then they left him to hang limply against the shackles that help him to the wall.

Ginny, Ron, and Hermione sat around a copy of the Daily Prophet that same day reading the article, and then cast the paper aside in disgust. Ginny snarled, "I don't know why they couldn't have left something like this out of the paper. Harry hates all this publicity. Now, when he comes back everyone is going to know what happened and they will treat him differently because of it. Harry will hate that!"

Ron laid back on his bed refusing to speak. Hermione merely sighed, "I'm sure that this will be the least of Harry's worries if he comes back."

Ginny spat at Hermione, "Don't you say if. It sounds like you doubt him. Harry can do anything. He'll come through this. I know it."

Ron shook his head as he sat up, "Ginny, you have to recognize the fact that he may not come back. He could already be dead for all we know."

Ginny shook her head vehemently, "No, he's not dead. If he was dead, Voldemort would be parading him around to show off."

Ron winced at the sound of Voldemort's name. Ginny cried out savagely, "I don't know how Harry stands to have a weak willed pathetic little shit like you as a friend, Ron. You've already given up on him, and its only been a few days. You aren't good enough to shine Harry's shoes." Then, Ginny ran out of the room in tears.

Ron's ears had gone red at the insults Ginny had thrown at him, but all of his thoughts froze as he turned to see Hermione shaking her head in dismay, and crying. "What is it?" he asked.

Hermione wiped a few tears from her eyes as she choked back a sob, "She's right, you know. None of us are good enough to be Harry's friend. After all we have done to him, I don't know if we should even bother him with our presence anymore."

Ron answered hotly, "What are you talking about? We've never done anything bad to Harry."

Hermione looked up sadly, "Ron, have you forgotten the Tri-Wizard Tournament? You wouldn't talk to him for a month because you were jealous. You even accused him of lying about putting his name in the cup."

Ron opened his mouth to retort, but no sound would come out. He couldn't justify his actions, but then he asked, "Well, what have you done to him?"

Hermione sighed, "I have harassed Harry for years about studying when there were obviously other things on his mind. Instead of being so obsessive about school, I could have at least been a little more understanding and tried to get him to talk about the things that were bothering him. I just always thought that studying was the best therapy, but now I am beginning to realize that will never be Harry's way."

A similar meeting was taking place in the office of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Minerva McGonagall waved the paper at Dumbledore, "Albus, this is outrageous. The last thing we need is a panic because everyone thinks You-Know-Who has won some major victory already. Most of the wizarding world only began to believe that he had returned a month or so ago."

Dumbledore looked up without the customary twinkle in his eyes, "I agree, Minerva, but there is little that we can do about it at this point. However, as much as I hate to say it, Voldemort has won a major victory. Even if we do manage to rescue Harry from his clutches, what kind of condition is he going to be in? He may wish to die instead of returning to this world."

Remus asked shakily, "What do you mean, Albus?"

Dumbledore sighed, "You know quite well what I mean, Remus. You were there when we found the Longbottoms. What they will be subjecting Harry to will be far worse than anything Bellatrix did to Frank and Alice. I know that Harry is powerful, but can anyone truly survive that kind of torture?"

Tonks nodded her head assertively, "We have to believe that Harry can, or else we have nothing to hope for. Harry will survive this. He's got to." She wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye as she said this. The rest of the room bowed their heads in sadness.

The rest of the summer seemed to crawl by for everyone involved. The Order kept busy with attempting to challenge the Death Eaters as they moved throughout the world torturing and killing Muggles and Muggleborns. The Ministry was in practical chaos as they attempted to protect everyone from the Death Eaters, and anyone personally involved with Harry either spent their time aiding the search for him, or waiting in anticipation for news that the search had finally paid off.

However, the time seemed to crawl the most for none other than the Boy-Who-Lived. He had been tortured with the Cruciatus Curse on a seemingly never ending cycle that began each morning with five Death Eaters entering his room. Only once had Voldemort seen fit to enter Harry's presence, and all he had done was taunt the boy with his own wand, before placing it in a holder on the opposite wall to represent an out of reach hope to Harry. He cackled as he walked from the room and Harry struggled against the bonds that held him to the wall before the surrounding Death Eaters began to hammer him with the Cruciatus Curse once again.

Finally, it was time for the new year at Hogwarts to begin. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione made it to the train at Diagon Alley with barely a moment to spare, and got hurriedly on the train. Ron and Hermione went to the prefects carriage while ginny made her way down the train until she saw a compartment with Neville and Luna sitting inside it. She squeezed in and took a seat beside Luna. Neville leaned over and patted her hand, and asked, "Has there been any word of Harry?"

Ginny shook her head sadly as a lone tear made its way down her cheek. Neville gripped her hand and said, "Harry will get through this, Ginny. Just trust in him."

Ginny nodded but didn't reply. After a short period of time Ron and Hermione joined them, and the five teenagers sat around in silence. A short time before they arrived at Hogwarts, none other than the Amazing Bouncing Ferret opened the door flanked by his two cronies. Neville was the first to look up and meet his eyes, "Malfoy!" There was a hint of menace in Neville's voice that had never been present before.

Malfoy seemed startled, but only for just a moment, and then he placed his customary sneer back on his face. He said, "Well, well, well! What do we have here? It seems like Potter's fan club have lost their mascot. I warned him that he would pay for what he did to my father."

Ron leaped to his feet and pulled his wand out as he rose. The other four were just behind him, and a string of curses flew from their wands to connect with the three Slytherins, knocking them to the ground unconscious.

Suddenly, they heard the snarling voice of none other than Severus Snape. "One Hundred points from Gryffindor for a blatant attack on my house."

Before Snape could move to aid Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, he found five wands trained on him. Ron stalked toward him menacingly, "Fuck you, Snape. You're just as happy about Harry being gone as he is. So, I'm going to warn you now, if any of us hear you speak ill of Harry in any way, the hell with being expelled, I will kill you myself."

Snape snarled once again, "Weasley, you will report to the Headmaster's office as soon as we reach Hogwarts. You will be expelled for threatening a teacher."

"No, Severus, I don't think that will be the case." said a voice behind him.

All four Gryffindors, Luna, and the Slytherin Potions master spun to see none other than Albus Dumbledore standing in the hall of the train. Snape snapped out, "What do you mean by that, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore sighed, "It seems that I have given you far too much license to do as you please concerning Harry and his friends. I will protect you no longer. If you visit their ire on yourself then you will suffer the full consequences without being able to punish them. The same will go for your house. If the Slytherins provoke the Gryffindors by speaking about Harry Potter, then they will suffer the wrath of the Gryffindors, and the Gryffindors will not be punished for it. Minerva will be informing the Gryffindors of this after the feast tonight, and I trust that you will warn the Slytherins to keep their opinions concerning Harry Potter to themselves."

Snape's eyes narrowed, "You can not be serious, Albus."

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed to match, and he replied, "I assure you that I am, Severus. I have no intention of allowing people to downgrade Harry while he is not even present to defend himself."

Severus revived the three Slytherins quickly, and hustled them away before they could speak. Dumbledore nodded to the five students before turning and walking down the corridor.

The rest of the train ride passed without incident. The students filed into the Great Hall for the Sorting Feast. McGonagall led the first years in and put the Sorting Hat on its stool. The brim split and the Sorting Hat began to sing.

__

It seems each year I must split

All Hogwart's students how I see fit.

I decide which house each student favors

If it be bravery you savor

Then a young Gryffindor I see

If Ravenclaw is where you want to be

I must first see that you have a quick and steady mind.

If hard work and toil be your kind

Then noble Hufflepuff is where you will find your home.

If Slytherin is where you want to roam,

Then you must be cunning and on the ball

So, come forward to the sorting, one and all.

After the Sorting Hat finished its song, there was scattered applause, and then McGonagall began calling the first years up to the stool to be sorted into their houses. Once the Sorting Ceremony was over, Dumbledore stood up and said, "Tuck in."

The feast appeared on the table and everyone began to eat. During the meal, Dumbledore stood up and raised his glass, "I ask for everyone's attention, please." The room quieted down. "I would like to propose a toast. To the hero of the wizarding world wherever he is, right now. To Harry Potter." Practically everyone in the hall raised their glasses in a toast to Harry Potter. Even some of the Slytherins had their glasses raised. Dumbledore sat back down, and the feast completed. Dumbledore handled the rest of the customary announcements before sending all the students off to bed. After they had filed from the Great Hall, Severus grasped his arm as it began to burn.

Dumbledore eyed him. Severus nodded before hurrying away. He got outside the wards of Hogwarts and Apparated toward the summons. Voldemort nodded to him before swirling from the room in a sweep of cloak. Snape bowed to Voldemort's retreating form before turning to find himself facing none other than Lucius Malfoy. Snape asked, "Why was I summoned, Lucius?"

Lucius grinned evilly, "The Dark Lord has decided that is finally your turn to torture the Potter boy."

Snape grinned evilly, "Finally. I have wanted a chance at that stupid Gryffindor since he was captured."

Lucius chuckled darkly, "Yes, Bellatrix and I quite enjoy it."

Snape and four lower ranking Death Eaters marched into the room. Snape barked, "Potter!"

As the other four Death Eaters in the room turned their attention to Harry, Snape cast a beacon spell on the far wall, so that the Order would be able to find this place. Harry weakly lifted his head to reveal a haggard, lined face that was almost gray from exhaustion and pain. His hair had turned almost completely white, but it was difficult to tell since it was extremely dirty with clogs of dried blood in it. Blood oozed from many wounds on his body from extreme overexposure to the Cruciatus Curse. Snape almost gasped in horror at the sight before him, but held back. Harry weakly spat out, "Snape. I should have known you would be one of Voldemort's lap dogs."

However, Snape could see a ray of hope shine behind Harry's eyes for one fleeting moment before disappearing as Snape raised his wand. Snape sneered, "I am going to enjoy this, Potter. Crucio!"

The curse hit Harry and he screamed in pain. He was too weak to hold in the screams anymore, but the screams were very weak and hoarse as Harry had screamed until his throat was bloody and raw. Snape held him under the curse for nearly a minute before letting up, and the other four Death Eaters took their turns. Harry, was soon unconscious. The five Death Eaters left the room, and walked back to the Apparition room. Snape nodded to Lucius, "I must return to Hogwarts before that fool Dumbledore gets suspicious of my absence."

Lucius smirked, "Don't worry, Severus. That Mudblood loving fool won't be in control much longer. As soon as we break Potter and get the information that we need from him, then the Dark Lord plans to take Hogwarts."

Snape forced his eyes to gleam as he Apparated to the edge of the wards around Hogwarts. He jogged quickly up to the Headmaster's office where the Order was assembled. Remus was the first to ask, "Was it Harry?"

Snape nodded, "Yes, I set up the beacon."

Dumbledore replied, "I detected it the moment it went up. We need to know about defenses that Voldemort has in place."

Snape continued, "It seems that the Dark Lord doesn't fear that we will discover the place. He was there when I arrived, but I felt him leave while I was torturing Potter."

He was interrupted by Remus, and the Weasleys, "**YOU WHAT?!**"

Dumbledore held up his hand, "I am sure that Severus had to keep up the pretense that he is a loyal Death Eater. He and I both anticipated that this is what they would want him to do."

Remus asked, "How bad is it? What kind of shape is Harry in?"

Snape shuddered as he remembered the appearance of the Boy-Who-Lived. At this shudder, everyone in the room dropped their eyes to hide tears, because they knew it had to be bad to cause such a reaction from the unfeeling Potions Master. Snape continued, "He is almost unrecognizable. It is obvious that he has been fed only enough to keep him alive. Considering the apparent amount of damage to his body, I am shocked beyond comprehension that he is still alive. Any normal wizard would have died long ago. To continue with the defenses, it appeared to me to only be a token force of Death Eaters. They are there more as guards in case Potter tries something than to defend against an attack. The Dark Lord is somewhat overconfident."

Dumbledore nodded, "Then, we will strike immediately. Everyone has their emergency Portkeys. The first person to reach Harry will bring him back here. I have Poppy standing ready in the Hospital Wing. Then, signal to the rest of us, and we will break off the attack. The important thing here is to retrieve Harry, so no heroics."

Everyone nodded to signal that they understood, and everyone Portkeyed to the beacon area. Then, the attack began. Dumbledore brought down the wards, and the Order of the Phoenix charged into the prison like building to battle. After several minutes it became clear that the Death Eaters could not hold against the Order, andt hey began to flee. Remus broke ahead of the other Order members and began racing down a long corridor to find two guards standing outside a cell. They turned as they heard his running footfalls coming closer. Remus brandished his wand and yelled out, "Stupefy! Stupefy!" Both Death Eaters dropped even before they could point their wands at the werewolf. Remus burst into the room to find Harry shackled to wall. Remus almost broke down in tears at the sight of his best friends child. He quickly magicked open the shackles and caught Harry in his arms as Harry fell.

Harry managed to croak out, "Wand," and feebly point to the opposite wall. Remus looked over at where Harry pointed and saw the wand sitting in the holster. He grabbed it and then tapped his wand to the bracelet on his wrist and said, "Hogwart's Hospital Wing." The two of them disappeared with a pop.

A/N: Well, I hope all of you enjoy where this fic is headed. Things will begin to get much more interesting once Harry wakes up and returns to class at Hogwarts. I'm going out of town, so I probably won't get chapter three up for about a week and a half. See all of you next time around.


	3. Harry's Return

Chapter 3:

Harry's Return

Remus and Harry appeared in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts with a pop to signal their arrival. Remus helped get Harry onto a bed as Madame Pomphrey came scurrying over. She immediately began waving her wand around Harry's body to determine what was wrong with him. She seemed to shiver as she passed the wand over and over his body, "Remus, I never dreamed that he would be this bad. I don't know how he is still alive."

An answer came from behind her, "The Prophecy. Only Voldemort can kill him, so anyone else will find it impossible. They could have cut his head off, and he would have gotten back up somehow."

Remus and Poppy looked over their shoulder to see Dumbledore standing behind them. Poppy sighed and went back to work on Harry. She pulled out some salve and began spreading it over his wounds. She said, "Remus, go into that cabinet over there and bring me the Cruciatus potion. That should help somewhat to relieve the pain he's feeling. Then, we will have to get some kind of nutrients into him. He's very badly malnourished."

Dumbledore approached hesitantly, "How many times has he been put under the Cruciatus Curse, Poppy?"

Poppy sighed as she continued spreading the salve all over his body, "It's difficult to tell at this point, Albus. I've never seen anyone with this much exposure to the curse, but I would say that he has been hit with the curse in the last month at least two hundred times."  
Dumbledore sank wearily into a chair, as Remus brought the potion to Poppy, and she prepared it in a syringe before injecting it directly into Harry's bloodstream. Remus sat in a chair on the other side of Harry, and asked, "How many times can you endure the Cruciatus Curse before losing your mind?"

Dumbledore replied, "It varies from wizard to wizard, but the average in this short span of time would be about fifty."

Remus paled further at this, "So, you mean that he will be crazy?"

Dumbledore shrugged, "We can only hope. It will be some time before he will be strong enough for us to tell if his mind has been bent by this ordeal."

Remus held out Harry's wand, "I think that you should keep this, then, Albus. If there is a chance that Harry is crazy, then we don't want him to have access to his wand."

Dumbledore took the wand, and placed it in a pocket of his robes. Then, the two wizards sat back to watch Madame Pomphrey continue to administer to Harry. After several minutes of silence had passed, Arthur Weasley walked into the room, "How is he?"  
Dumbledore sighed once again, "He's alive, Arthur. That's all we know for now. Did you inform the Daily Prophet?"

Arthur nodded, "Yes, the news of Harry's rescue will be in the morning paper. This will at least put some of You-Know-Who's plans on hold."

Poppy finally finished with Harry, and tucked the covers up around him. She said, "That is all I can do for him at this time. I will continue to monitor him, and I will have to keep giving him nutrient potions until he wakes up and can actually eat something. It will be quite some time before he is able to move around again."

Remus asked, "What about his mind? Can you tell if it has been damaged by the curse?"

Poppy shook her head, "It is impossible to tell at this point. All we can do is wait."

The next morning, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Hermione walked into the Great Hall and sat down to breakfast at the Gryffindor table. They gave Luna a small wave and then began their meal. After several minutes of silence between the four, the morning post owls flew in through the window. Hermione dropped a Knut into an owl's leg pouch, and then unfurled the Daily Prophet. She promptly spat out the sip of pumpkin juice that she had been drinking directly into Ron's face. He spluttered and exclaimed, "What the bloody hell did you do that for?"

Hermione flipped the paper onto the table where all of them could see the flashing headline.

****

Boy-Who-Lived Rescued in Daring Midnight Raid

__

Harry Potter, who has been missing since being captured by supporters of You-Know-Who on July 30th was recovered last night by a task force of witches and wizards last night. The team was led by none other than Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore. Included in the group were many Aurors and several other concerned citizens. We at the Daily Prophet are unsure of what condition Mr. Potter may be in, as we have been given no information about his health, but we can only conclude that Mr. Potter must be in a terrible state after a month of being a prisoner of He-Who-Must-Not-Be Named. The Ministry has asked for everyone to remember our hero, and hope for him to be returned to full health.

Ginny looked at the paper in disbelief, "Harry's okay?"

Hermione shook her head, "It doesn't say that. It just says that he's alive. We'll have to ask the Headmaster how bad it is."

They all turned to look at Dumbledore. He met their eyes and gave a slight nod of his head. Then, he got up from the staff table and swept from the room. The four Gryffindors got up to follow him, and motioned for Luna to join them from the Ravenclaw table. The five students hurried toward the hospital wing. They met Dumbledore just outside the doors. He said, "We have moved Harry into a private room in the back of the ward so that the day to day patients don't disturb him, and also to insure that none of the Death Eater children attempt to do anything to him while he is incapacitated. I will allow each of you to go in one at a time, but attempt not to disturb him too much. He has not regained consciousness, and waking him sooner than he is ready could have ill effects. Also, try not to be shocked at his appearance. He has been through a great ordeal, and it has altered his looks quite a bit."

Neville gulped, "What do you mean, Professor?"

Dumbledore shook his head sadly, "You will just have to wait and see, Mr. Longbottom. It is not something that can be captured with words. Now, which of you will go first?"

Ron stepped forward feebly, "I will, Professor." He turned to the others, "I'll be back in a second, guys." Ron entered the Hospital Wing, and Madame Pomphrey led him into the room where Harry was hidden in. Ron stepped inside, and almost let out a gasp of shock. The first thing that he noticed about his best friend was that his face was scrunched up as if he were in pain even though he was asleep. His head moved back and forth weakly as though he were in the throes of a nightmare and was too weak to escape it. The next thing to come to Ron's attention was the fact that Harry's hair was almost completely white. It still had streaks of black in it, but they were few and far between. Then, to Ron's horror, as Harry's hair shifted aside, the lightning bolt scar came into view. Instead of the normal pink tinge of scar tissue, the lightening glistened in a very vivid and sickening blood red. It caused the scar that marked Harry to become much more obvious. Ron finally managed to sit down beside Harry and said quietly, "Mate, I don't know what it is that you have been through, but I know that you need to get better. We all need you. You can't leave us alone." A few tears escaped from Ron's eyes to slide down his cheek. He cleared his throat, "I'm going to go now, so that one of the others can come in, but remember, Harry, your friends need you."

Ron walked out of the room into the main Hospital wing, and quickly wiped his face. As he stepped back out into the hallway, the other four students took in the look on his face, and all of them paled visibly at the thought of what must await them. Neville patted Hermione on the back, "I think you should go next, Hermione."

Hermione nodded wordlessly, and made her way into the Hospital Wing. She followed Madame Pomphrey's pointing finger toward the room, so sick with anticipation of what she was about to see that she failed to notice that the school nurse was also in tears. Hermione stepped inside Harry's private room, and literally fell into the chair beside his bed as she saw all the things that Ron had beheld a few moments before. She began to weep uncontrollably, and she grabbed Harry's hand and leaned over to place her head against it. As she continued to cry, she felt a hand begin to pet her hair, and she heard a voice mumble, "Don't cry, Mione. Everything will be okay."

She looked up in amazement to see that Harry had pulled his hand from her grasp, and it was him petting her head. Even more amazing was the fact that he had not regained consciousness and was doing this while still out. Hermione took his hand again, "Harry, you have to come back to us. We all love you very much, and we want you to come back. I don't know if you can hear me, but I am begging you to fight, and come back to us. We all love you." Then, Hermione began to cry some more. When she finally felt that she had cried all the tears that she could, Hermione got up and walked from the room.

As Hermione came back into the hall, Neville looked to Ginny, "It's your turn now, Ginny."

Ginny shook her head, "No, I still need a minute. Go on ahead, Neville."

Neville turned his head the other way to Luna, "How about you?"

Luna shook her head as well, "Neville, you followed Harry farther into that battle than any of us. He needs a comrade in battle right now. Go."

Neville nodded and squaring his shoulders made his way into the Hospital Wing. He entered the room and sat down in the chair beside Harry's bed and said quietly, "Harry, I don't know what the others have said to you, so I'm just going to go with what I feel. Harry, I have looked up to you since the first day we met at Hogwarts. You have always found your way. I know that doesn't seem like much of a compliment, but it is. Most students are content just to get to class and have fun, but you never have been that way. You have always seen what needed to be done, and used everything in your power to get it done. That's what makes you a hero. Not the scar, and not the fame, but your desire to always make things right. I want you to know that I know about the Prophecy. My Gran knew about it since it could have been me. She told me about it this summer, but told me not to tell anyone, since she wasn't for sure if you knew, yet. Somehow, though, I know in my heart that you know about it. I'm glad in a way that it is you, because if it had been me, the wizarding world would have been plunged into an era of despair because I could have never done the things that you have done. I'm proud to call you my friend, and I hope that someday I can make you proud to call me a friend. I just want you to know, that when the final battle comes, I will be standing at your side. I am yours to lead, harry, for I know you will lead me to victory." Neville patted Harry's hand, "Now, you have to get better, and wake up, or there will never be a victory story to tell, and no more Potters to tell the story to. I know you will come through this, just as you always have. For now, rest well, my friend."

Neville exited the hospital wing with a look of grim resolve on his face. There was no grief there, as Dumbledore expected to see, but merely a fiery resolve to do what was necessary. Ginny looked over at Luna as Neville came out of the Hospital Wing and said, "You go first. I'm almost ready."

Luna nodded and walked into the Hospital Wing. Neville asked Hermione, "Can you make another command galleon for the DA, or do we have to have Harry's?"

Hermione replied, "We have to have Harry's unless I redo the charm and make all new galleons. Why?"

Neville turned to Dumbledore, "Headmaster, where are Harry's things?"

Dumbledore seemed a bit surprised at Neville's question but answered, "They are in my office. Why?"

Neville replied, "We need to get Harry's command coin for the DA, so that we can alert everyone that we are starting again."

Ron asked, "When did we decide this?"

Neville replied grimly, "Right now. It's what Harry would want."

Dumbleodore felt a smile twitch at the corners of his lips for the first time since Harry was taken, "Yes, Mr. Longbottom, I believe that he would. We will go to retrieve the coin as soon as we are finished here."

Neville nodded, "Thank you, Headmaster."

Luna had paused just inside the door of the Hospital Wing to listen to the exchange outside before proceeding into Harry's room with a smile on her face. She sat down beside Harry's bed and took his hand, "Harry, I realize that we don't know each other very well, but you have always been very nice to me. So, all I really want to say is that you have a lot of loyal friends that love you very much. They want you to come back, and so do I. I won't stay long, because we have saved the best for last. I know that Ginny is still in love with you, Harry, and you need to know it. I think you should give things with her a chance, and you might find a reason for life to go on. Goodbye, Harry."

Luna left the room quietly with her normal dazed expression plastered on her face. Luna came out of the room, and Ginny visible swallowed as she headed into the hospital wing to see the Boy-She-Loved. Ginny walked into the room with Harry, and sat down. She took Harry's hand and brought it to her lips. Then, she said, "Harry, I know I have never told you this, but I love you very much. I should have told you sooner. I don't know that it would have mattered to you, but at least I would know that I told you how I felt even if you don't return my feelings. I can only hope that someday you will love me as much as I love you, but I won't try to pressure you into anything. I also want you to know that everyone loves you, as well, and we all want you to come back to us. I know that you sometimes wonder why people like you, but you have to understand how much you mean to everyone. My brothers, except for Percy all think of you as another little brother. Most of the students at school look up to you. My parents love you like their own son. Almost all of the professors adore you even though they don't show it all the time, and I know for a fact that Dumbledore has always thought of you as a grandson. I don't know what else I can say to you to give you a reason to come back to us, but I will try one last time. Harry, people love you. Me, most of all." Ginny stood and then leaned over Harry to place a kiss on his forehead. Then, she turned and walked from the room to let the tears spill down her lovely face.

Neville retrieved the command coin from Dumbledore's office and used it to alert the remaining DA members that there would be a meeting the following evening.

The five students met in the Room of Requirement about twenty minutes before they scheduled the meeting to begin. They sat waiting in silence before the other members of the DA began to filter in. The Gryffindors came in first. Dean Thomas, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnegan, Katie Bell, and the two Creeveys. They were followed shortly by the Ravenclaws; Padma Patil, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, Cho Chang, and Terry Boot. The Hufflepuffs brought up the rear; Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie MacMillan, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, and Zacharias Smith.

Everyone stood still and looked at everyone else, until Ernie MacMillan finally asked, "So, why did you call us here?"

Neville took a step forward, "We plan on continuing with the DA from last year. I know that they have brought Professor Lupin back to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, but that doesn't mean that we don't need the extra practice. In fact, I'm sure that he would love the idea."

Dean asked, "What about Harry? The Daily Prophet said they rescued him, but where is he? Do you know?"

Neville nodded, "We've seen him. I won't lie to any of you. He's not in good shape, but I'm confident that he's going to be fine in time, but until then we need to elect a leader in his absence, so that we can be in top condition when he comes back to us. Are there any nominations for leader?"

Ginny spoke immediately, "I nominate Neville Longbottom as ad hoc leader."

Neville spun around to look at her, "What?!"

She shrugged, "This was all your idea, Neville. You stepped up to take charge when no one wanted to start talking, so I think that you should be our leader when Harry isn't around. Harry would want it that way."

Hermione nodded, "I agree. I think Neville is an excellent choice. All in favor?"

Everyone raised their hand except Neville and Ron. Hermione eyed Ron pointedly, but all he did was grumble and take a seat. Neville sighed as he saw the sea of raised hands around him, "Fine, then we need to establish a practice time that doesn't conflict with everyone's Quidditch training, and stick with it. Let's meet on Wednesday night until Quidditch practice starts in a few weeks. Then, we can arrange it differently if we have to. Everyone okay with that?"

The group all nodded their heads in affirmation. Neville nodded, "Fine. See you on Wednesday." Neville waited for the rest of the group to file out. Surprisingly, Ron walked out with the others instead of waiting with Neville, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna.

Luna asked, "What was wrong with Ronald?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, "He's a prat. He can't accept that other people are better than him. He always thinks he gets looked over because he's a Weasley. So, he's jealous of everybody. I assume he thought that since he is Harry's best friend that everyone would instantly want him to be the leader. He seems to look over the fact that he has no leadership ability whatsoever."

Neville waved his hand, "He'll get over it, and if he doesn't Harry will slap some sense into him when he wakes up. Professor Dumbledore said that we can go see Harry anytime as long as were quiet, so let's head up. We can spend a little bit of time with him and work on our homework at the same time. I think the company might be comforting to him even if he doesn't know we're there."

Ginny smiled and nodded, "I hope so. Let's go."

Luna and Hermione followed the other two up to the Hospital Wing and sat down around Harry and pulled out books and quills and began scratching away. Dumbledore came by to check on them and Harry twice during the course of the evening.

The next morning, Draco Malfoy swaggered over to the Gryffindor table flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. Neville gripped his wand tightly and said, "Malfoy, if you want to keep all of your body parts intact, then you better head back over to your side of the Great Hall and stay there.

Malfoy sneered, "I just thought that I would come over and give you a little message. I was told that your precious Potter is being kept here in the school to recuperate. The school governors have been informed, and they will be kicking his sorry ass out of here. They have discovered that Potter has had his brain fried by a month long torture session at the hands of the Dark Lord."

Malfoy had barely finished his sentence when Neville whipped his wand around above his head, "Forcus Wind!" A blast of wind sent Malfoy and his two stooges flying into the wall of the Great Hall with enough force to crack ribs and spines.

McGonagall came hurrying over, "Miss Granger, I presume that Mr. Malfoy was insulting Mr. Potter."

Hermione wiped a tear from her eye at the thought of the things Malfoy had said, and nodded her head. McGonagall drew her lips into a thin line, "Severus!"

Snape had reached his students by this time. He shot her a glare, "What?"

If anything McGonagall's lips tightened further, "I was under the impression that you were told to warn your students of the consequences of speaking ill of Mr. Potter."

Snape sneered, "I did. I can not be held accountable for their choice to disregard that warning." Snape levitated the three Slytherins out of the Great Hall.

McGonagall was about to turn around and walk back to the Head Table when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned, "What is it, Miss Abbott?"

Hannah said quite plainly and loudly, "I think that allowing the Gryffindors to do whatever they want when someone talks about Harry is wrong, Professor."

The Gryffindors started shooting Hannah dirty looks when she said this, but the petite girl held her ground and did not quail under the furious stares she was receiving. McGonagall asked, "Why do you think that, Miss Abbott?"

Hannah replied, "The rest of us care just as much about Harry as the Gryffindors do. Why should they be the only ones that get to deal out punishment for people talking bad about him? All of us should have that right."

The furious stares that Hannah had been receiving turned to looks of amazement, and then several of the Gryffindors began to beam at her, while several students at the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables stood up and began applauding, while others were shouting agreement as loudly as they could. Many of the Slytherins were attempting to sneak quietly from the room at this display of loyalty to The-Boy-Who-Lived. Surprisingly, even a few of the Slytherins stood up to applaud. Dumbledore rose, and quiet fell across the room in waves, "I think that Miss Abbott makes an excellent suggestion. All students of Hogwarts have the right to defend one of their own. As long as it is kept within reason, everyone should feel free to take appropriate action when Harry's honor is called into question." A gigantic cheer arose from the student body.

Later that evening, Harry's friends had decided that it was impractical for all of them to stay in the Hospital Wing with Harry at night, so they had worked out a schedule where they rotated staying with him. Ginny was on duty at the moment, and she was sitting in a chair next to Harry's bed with her head lying against the mattress with her hand out in front of her stroking Harry's hand. Ginny was on the verge of falling asleep when she could have sworn that she saw Harry's fingers twitch. She sat up and rubbed her face, and then looked at Harry again to see if she had imagined the movement. She hadn't, as Harry's fingers twitched once again. She looked up to Harry's face to find that he had his eyes open and was looking around at his surroundings. Ginny said almost breathlessly, "Harry?"

Harry rolled his head slightly to look directly at Ginny for just a moment, before his eyes closed and he slipped back into unconsciousness. Ginny immediately leaped up and hurried to the Headmaster's office. She stood outside the gargoyle and tried pleading with it to alert Dumbledore that she was outside his office and that she needed to speak with him immediately.

A few moments later, the gargoyle sprang aside and Dumbledore stepped out into the corridor. "Miss Weasley, what have you come to see me about?"

Ginny grabbed his hand, "Harry woke up for a minute, Professor. He opened his eyes and twitched his fingers."

Dumbledore cracked a smile, "This is encouraging. Let's get down to the Hospital Wing and let Madame Pomphrey give him a once over."

Dumbledore led the way down to the Hospital Wing to Harry's room to find that Madam Pomphrey was already at Harry's side running her wand over him. Dumbledore asked, "I see you realized something was going on, Poppy."

The Medi-witch smiled, "It was somewhat difficult to miss with the way Miss Weasley tore out of here a moment ago." She turned to give Ginny a stern look, "I will expect a slight bit more restraint next time, or I will have to ban you from the Hospital Wing for the present time."

Ginny looked down at her feet, sheepishly, "I'm sorry, Madam Pomphrey."

Poppy returned her gaze to her patient, "That is quite alright, dear, but don't let it happen again."

After several minutes, Poppy put her wand away and gave Harry an injection. Dumbledore asked, "So, what is the verdict?"

Poppy smiled, "He is resting now, but he could stay in a natural sleep for quite some time yet. His body is nowhere close to recuperating, but I have no doubt that it is just a matter of time. Once he wakes up and we can begin feeding him, his recovery should continue a little more rapidly. I still think it will be at least three weeks before he will be able to return to the dormitories or classes. Then, there is his medical health to consider. We will have to see if he can handle being around the other students."

Ginny's smile at the beginning of Madam Pomphrey's answer slowly faded near the end, and she asked, "What do you mean by that? Are you saying that Harry might be dangerous?"

Dumbledore sighed, "Unfortunately, that is a distinct possibility. Anyone else that had been exposed to this much torture under the Cruciatus Curse would have died or been driven completely insane. Harry has dealt with a great deal of pain through the years from his scar, and we're hoping that it gave him some sort of resistance to the pain. We already know that he has a higher tolerance for the Cruciatus Curse than the average witch or wizard, which means that his breaking point would be much higher than normal, but we have no way to gauge where that breaking point would be, therefore we have no way to know what it did to his mind until he wakes and we are able to talk to him."

Ginny sat back down in the chair beside Harry's bed and began to cry as she took his hand. Dumbledore conjured a chair, and sat down beside her. After a couple of hours, Dumbledore suggested that Ginny go to bed considering it was almost curfew. Ginny nodded and stood up. She leaned over to kiss Harry on the forehead and then left the Hospital Wing with tears glistening in her eyes.

Dumbledore remained by Harry's side through the rest of the night, and in the wee hours of the morning, Harry opened his eyes. Dumbledore leaned forward over Harry, and Harry opened his mouth to try to talk, but Dumbledore hushed him, and gave him a potion to sooth his throat first. Harry sipped at it until he had finally finished it, and then croaked, "Water."

Dumbeldore conjured him a glass of cool water, and handed it to him. Harry sloshed some of the water onto himself, but managed to drink most of it. Dumbledore asked, "How are you feeling, Harry?"

Harry turned to look directly into Dumbledore's eyes with an expression like ice in his own eyes. Dumbledore involuntarily took a step back at this look, and Harry said, "I was under the impression that you were intelligent, Headmaster. What kind of stupid question was that?"

Dumbledore adopted a stern expression, "Now, Harry, I was just showing concern.."

Harry cut him off with a dark chuckle, "Showing concern? You? I'm afraid I will pass on that. Your concern has never led me to anything good. Now, what day is it?"

Dumbledore replied stiffly, "It is September the fifth. School started four days ago."

Harry nodded, "How long was I in that prison?"

Dumbledore's shoulder slumped, "All of August. We took you from them very late on September the first. All the students were already here at school."

Harry nodded once again, "How long before Madam Pomphrey allows me to go back to class and the dormitories?"

Dumbledore replied, "She told me three weeks, yesterday, but we will have to wait and see. You might have to stay here longer than that."

Harry shifted slightly, "That's okay. I'll need to make sure that I rebuild my strength before I expose myself to certain Death Eater wannabees. I would hate to be ill prepared to greet them." Harry laughed darkly before closing his eyes, and going back to sleep.

However, Dumbledore stood looking down at Harry's peaceful face in horror for several minutes. He had seen the glint of malice in Harry's eyes, and that scared him more than anything that Voldemort had ever been capable of doing.

A/N: For those of you that are thinking this will be a Dark! Harry fic, don't. At least not entirely. Harry will be doing some things that are dark, but only to people that really deserve it. He's mentally unstable from the torture, and that will remove a lot of inhibitions that he has had in the past, but overall he will still cooperate with the good guys. He's just going to be a little ruthless about it. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing.


	4. Rise of the Marks

Chapter 4:

Rise of the Marks

The next three weeks passed at Hogwarts quickly. Each day seemed to bring news of more attacks by the Death Eaters. Rare was the day when the front page of the Daily Prophet didn't contain a picture of the Dark Mark over someone's home or business. Luckily there had been few deaths, but the news that the Dementors had abandoned Azkaban and let all the captured Death Eaters go free was horrible enough news. Herminoe, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna came to see Harry everyday as his recovery continued along. They chose not to discuss the attacks with Harry, but he was receiving the Daily Prophet himself, so he knew about them nonetheless. Finally, it was time to allow Harry to leave the Hospital Wing, but before they did so, a team of psychiatrists came in from St. Mungos. They spent several hours with Harry, and questioned him endlessly. Dumbledore was concerned that there was a problem, because Harry had seemed very different over the last three weeks. His facial expression bordered something that you would expect to see on the face of Severus Snape, not Harry Potter. Dumbledore had also seen that maniacal glint in Harry's eye a couple more times since the first night that he woke up.

The head psychiatrist, Julius Erhart, came outside the Hospital Wing to speak quietly with Dumbledore. Dumbledore asked, "So, what do you think?"

Erhart sighed, "I must say that I am surprised, I would never have expected him to have recovered this well from such an ordeal. I think it would be fine for him to return to the student body, and resume his classes. However, I think that it would be prudent for you to keep a very close eye on him. The pain and prolonged torture that he was exposed to have marked and scarred him considerably. He will most likely be more volatile than he was before."

Dumbledore shook his head sadly, "In other words, he is more likely to attack a student or Professor that antagonizes him than he was before."

The Healer nodded his head in the affirmative, "Yes, I still don't think that he is overly dangerous. It is most likely that he will attack physically than to actually use his wand to hurt someone. People who are subjected to extreme amounts of the Cruciatus Curse rarely have the desire to use it, unless they were inclined to do so before they were subjected to it. So, I don't think that is a worry."

Dumbledore patted the Healer on the shoulder, "Thank you for coming, Julius. I will go inform Mr. Potter that he may return to his dormitory and begin class in the morning."

The Healers departed as Dumbledore entered Harry's room. Dumbledore handed Harry his wand and said, "Well, it seems, Mr. Potter, that you have been given a clean bill of health. You may return to your dormitories, now." Dumbledore waved his wand at the bed and conjured clothing and robes for Harry to change into.

Harry picked up the clothes and walked behind a screen to change. Then, he stepped out with his clothes on and dropped the Hospital Wing pajamas onto the bed for Madam Pomphrey to retrieve. She came out to get them, and Harry caught her arm. Then, he bent slightly to the short woman and placed a kiss on her cheek. He smiled, "thank you for taking care of me, Madam Pomphrey." Then, Harry turned and walked from the Hospital Wing.

Poppy looked over at Dumbledore and said, "Albus, he's never done anything like that before."

Dumbledore nodded, "I know. I'm not for sure if I should be worried about the change in personality, or happy that he showed some affection."

Harry entered Gryffindor Tower, and an impromptu party sprang up as the Gryffindors celebrated their hero's return. Parvarti and Lavender turned on some music, and there was quite a bit of dancing. Harry turned out to be quite a good dancer now that he was over his nervousness at the concept, and he danced with practically every girl in Gryffindor. He even gave several of them pecks on the lips to thank them for dancing with him. This included Ginny Weasley, who almost squealed in delight at the kiss. It also included Hermione, which mad Ron's face turn almost purple with envy and rage. Ron, then went upstairs to be early.

The next morning, Draco Malfoy sauntered over to the Gryffindor table at breakfast. Ron looked up immediately, "Get lost, ferret face!"

Harry patted Ron, "Now, now, Ron, is that any way to insult a ferret?" Then, he turned to Draco as Ron, Neville, and Ginny laughed, and Hermione quirked a small grin over the book she was reading. "Now, Malfoy, what can I do for you this morning?"

Malfoy sneered at Harry, and threw the morning copy of the Daily Prophet on the table. It was a picture of the Dark Mark over the remains of the Burrow. "I just wanted to let you know that your little fan club won't be safe from the Dark Lord for much longer. Unfortunately, none of the Weasels were home, but the Dark Lord will find them soon enough."

Ron and Ginny both started to rise with their wands drawn, but Harry grabbed their arms and pulled them back down into their seats. Then, Harry gave Malfoy a sneer that Snape would have envied. He said, "Since you seem to be so good at ferrying messages, Malfoy, I have one for you to send back to your father. Tell him that the followers of the Dark Lord should fear, because Voldemort's worst nightmare is about to rise. His mark will rise in the air just as the Dark Mark does, except that it will rise above the homes of Death Eaters. The rise of this mark will begin the fall of Voldemort and his followers, so I suggest that you beware, Malfoy." Harry held up the copy of the Daily Prophet, "Atrocities of this nature will not go unpunished. So, watch the news for the turn, and the mark." Then, Harry threw the paper into Draco's face before standing up and exiting the Great Hall in a swirl of robes, leaving everyone that had heard his message gaping in shock.

McGonagall leaned over and whispered to Dumbledore, "He didn't attack malfoy, so this is encouraging."

Dumbledore shook his head, "I don't know yet. What did he mean by all the things that he just said. I know Harry well enough to realize that he doesn't make idle threats. He's either planning something, or he knows something, and either way, I'm not sure that it is a good thing."

McGonagall sighed, "Albus, until he does something wrong, though, we have to trust him."

Albus shook his head, "Until I know that he is okay, and that he isn't going to do anything rash, I will continue to watch him."

During Transfiguration class that day, Harry showed a slight aptitude for conjuring that was somewhat unexpected by McGonagall. She gave Gryffindor twenty points, and awarded Harry with one of her rare smiles. After class, Harry approached her and asked, "Professor, I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor?"

McGonagall raised her eyebrows in surprise, but motioned for Harry to continue. Harry smiled, "I would like to become an Animagus, and I was hoping that you would train me."

McGonagall smiled, "I will have to ask Professor Dumbledore what he thinks, but I don't suspect that he would have a problem with it."

Harry nodded, "Good, because I don't relish the idea of figuring it all out by myself, like Dad and Sirius did."

"Are you suggesting that you would become an unregistered Animagus if I won't teach you?"

Harry nodded, "Of course. I need every advantage that I can get, and I think that having another form would help me a great deal in the battles to come."

"Very well, Potter. You may go, and I will speak to the Headmaster about this."

Harry smiled, "Thank you, Professor." Then, he left the classroom.

Later that evening, Harry went to bed early claiming that he was tired from his first day back to classes, and went up to the dormitory. He grabbed his invisibility cloak, and the Marauder's Map. He cast an illusion spell to make it look and sound as if he were in his bed. Then, he swirled the cloak over him, and made his way down, and out the portrait hole. He went to the statue of the one-eyed witch, and tapping her hump gave the password, "Dissendium." Then, he slipped down the passage and made his way to Honeydukes, and up through the store and used their Floo connection to get to the Malfoy Manor. He crept stealthily through the house until he found Narcissa Malfoy in another room conversing with Lucius Malfoy through another fireplace.

She said, "Lucius, I don't think it wise for you to use this fireplace. The Ministry is highly suspicious that I am a Death Eater as well. If they discover that I am still in contact with you, then my credibility will be shot, and I will no longer be of any use to the Dark Lord as a spy."

Lucius smiled cruelly, "Do not worry. We have made certain that the Ministry cannot monitor this fireplace, so we will be able to use it to send information back and forth. It is far more reliable than using owls to pass messages along. The Order will be attempting to disrupt and steal our communications just as we are doing so to them. Now, that I have the information that I need, I will be going. Tell Draco to keep his nose clean at school. The Dark Lord would be displeased if we lost his spying abilities because he was expelled."

Then, Lucius' head disappeared. Narcissa leaned back into her chair, "Well, I hope that the Dark Lord is pleased with this information."

Harry flipped his cloak off, "What information with that be, Narcissa?"

Narcissa leaped from her chair and drew her wand, but Harry was ready for her. He shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

Narcissa's wand flew towards him and as he caught it, he yelled, "Stupefy!" The red jet of light hit her, and she dropped to the ground stunned. Harry conjured shackles on the wall, and fastened Narcissa to the wall, and then he lazily pointed his wand at her, "Enervate."

Narcissi snapped back to consciousness and eyed Harry with malevolence, "What do you want, Potter?"

Harry smiled evilly, "Information. What was it that you just told Lucius? What do you hope that Tom is pleased with?"

Narcissa spat, "I will never betray the Dark Lord, Potter."

Harry sighed, "It's a shame that I don't have any Veritaserum. I will have to see what I can do about procuring some. That way the next Death Eater I capture, I can at least get something useful out of them before they die." Harry eyed Narcissa, "You really are a Death Eater aren't you?" Without waiting for an answer, Harry waved his wand at the woman, "Accio, clothing."

Narcissa's clothing was ripped from her body, and sailed across the room to Harry, where he let them drop to the floor. He eyed Narcissa's naked body for a moment, and then looked to her left forearm. Sure enough, the Dark Mark was burned into her arm. Harry then returned his gaze to her face, "Well, Narcissa, I am surprised to say that you have an impressive body. Under other circumstances, I might have been attracted. Having sex with you would most certainly be entertaining."

Narcissa drew her lips into a thin line, "I don't suppose that a bargain would be in line?"

Harry crossed his arms, "What bargain would that be?"

She replied, "I could fuck you for my life."

Harry raised his eyebrows, "I could fuck you anyway. You would be able to do nothing to stop me if I were so inclined."

Narcissa nodded, "True, but the pleasure would be much greater if I were a willing participant."

Harry smiled, "Perhaps you are right. He waved his wand and the shackles disappeared. "Now, let me see what you can do."

Narcissa made her way over to Harry, and kneeled down in front of him. Then, she pulled his robes aside and slid off the pants that he was wearing underneath. She pulled down his boxers and slid her mouth over his throbbing dick. She suckled him at a pace that gradually increased in speed until he burst within her, and she swallowed the load that came forth. Next, Harry lay back on the bed, and Narcissa straddled him, and began to bounce up and down on his re-hardening dick. She did this until she felt that he was about to cum again, and then she leaped off and took him into her mouth again to swallow the load of cum that burst forth.

Harry stood up and eyed Narcissa. Then, he said, "Stupefy!" She fell to the ground stunned, and Harry reattached her to the wall. Then, Harry put his clothing back on and began his search of Malfoy Manor. Several hours later, Harry had found what he was looking for, and he enervated Narcissa once again.

She looked around, "I thought that you were going to spare my life for fucking you."

Harry snorted, "I intend to, but that doesn't mean that I am going to let you go until I have what I came for. I also need to Obliviate your memory."

Narcissa scowled, "So, I won't remember doing this."

Harry smirked, "Oh no, you will most definitely remember being attacked, and having slept with your attacker to spare your life. You just won't remember that it was me. I can't let my little secret get out just yet."

Narcissa attempted to gain some more information, "So, what did you come here to look for?"

Harry laughed, "Do you really think that I am that stupid? My what fantasy you Malfoys have. Now, I am going to Obliviate you, and then release you. I have set one of the magical bombs that I located in Lucius' belongings to blow the house, so I suggest that you run as soon as I let you go."

Harry pointed his wand at Narcissa, and said, "Obliviate!" Then, he swirled the cloak over himself. He pointed his wand at the shackles and muttered an incantation, and they released her. Narcissa immediately ran for the door. Harry stepped outside on the balcony and muttered a time release spell for his mark to go up, and then he flipped Floo powder into the fire and went back to Honeydukes to make his way through the secret passage back into the castle. Between the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility cloak, Harry made his way back to the dormitories, and slipped into bed without anyone knowing that he had ever been gone.

A short time after Harry left, the Malfoy Manor exploded and a mark of a bright red sinister looking Phoenix blossomed in the air. Underneath it in writing made of flame were the words.

****

Beware all who oppose the Dark Phoenix

Followers of Voldemort be wary

For Justice now has an avatar

And his wrath will destroy you.

Aurors from the Ministry, and members of the Order were on the scene in minutes. The Aurors had captured Narcissa Malfoy running around naked babbling about an attack. Dumbledore met with Kingsley and Moody as soon as he arrived. He took one look at the mark hovering above what was left of the manor, and shivered. He turned back to the two Aurors and asked, "What happened?"

Moody shrugged, but Kingsley replied, "Narcissa Malfoy claims that someone broke into the manor, and captured her. She had sex with her captor in trade for her life. He set one of Lucius' own devices to blow up the place and told her to run. She did. Apparently, whoever it was knew that she was a Death Eater."

Dumbledore paled, "Narcissa was a Death Eater as well?"

Knigsley nodded, "When we found her, she was completely naked. The Dark Mark was perfectly visible on her left forearm."

Moody asked, "Does she know who the attacker was?"

Kingsley shook his head, "No. It's apparent that whoever it was performed a Memory Charm on her. We were going to try and break it, but it became apparent almost immediately that whoever put it on her was extremely powerful. We would shatter her mind to break it, and then we would get nothing from her."

Dumbledore nodded, "We will have to put some serious effort into discovering who did this."

Remus asked as he walked up with Arthur Weasley, "Why, Albus? I know that you obviously don't approve of the methods here, but whoever it is, is on our side. They attacked a Death Eater and left a message for Voldemort's followers to beware. This might be just the ally that we need."

Dumbledore asked quietly, "How do we know that whoever this is doesn't want to kill Voldemort just to replace him?"

Arthur sighed, "We don't, Albus, but until whoever this is gives us some reason to assume that is the case, then I'm with Remus."

Moody and Kingsley both nodded their heads. Dumbledore took a deep breath and then let it out, "I see. Well, then I will have to bow to the majority. We will not pursue this individual until their true motives become clear."

The next morning, the Daily Prophet had a report of the attack on Malfoy Manor, and the new mark that had been seen shining in the sky. The headline read,

****

New Mark Spotted in Sky

__

Last evening in a surprise attack on Malfoy Manor, a mark other than the Dark Mark was seen in the air. (See accompanying picture) With this mark was an accompanying message that warned all followers of You-Know-Who to beware. Found at the scene was one naked Narcissa Malfoy. It was discovered that she was present at the attack, and fled the household. It was also discovered that Narcissa has the Dark Mark, and has been taken into custody at the Ministry. She was unable to identify the attacker, so the identity of this new foe for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will remain a mystery.

Hermione looked at the picture and read the words that seemed to glisten below the Mark of the Phoenix. She mused aloud, "I wonder who it could be."

Harry shrugged, "I don't know, but I would like to shake their hand. They blew up Malfoy's house, and got his mother captured without her clothes. That has got to be humiliating, and you know Malfoy will be taking some serious teasing for it."

Ron grinned, "No kidding. This is going to be fun."

At about that time, Draco marched across the Great Hall and drew his wand on Harry, "Potter, I know you had something to do with this, and I will not tolerate this insult against my mother."

Harry looked at Draco dismissively, "I don't really care what you think, Malfoy. Hmmm, come to think of it, are you even sure that you are a Malfoy? It seems to me if it is that easy to get your mother out of her clothes, then Lucius may very well not even be your father. The Muggle mailman could be your dad."

Draco swelled with fury as he brandished his wand and shouted a spell. Harry had already drawn his wand, and easily blocked the spell with the Shield Charm, and then countered by conjuring a Muggle baseball bat in his off hand and swung it around to make contact with the side of Draco's head. Malfoy was knocked to the floor unconscious, where a slight amount of blood trickled from the side of his head where the blow made contact.

Harry dropped the bat on the bench that he had been sitting on and waved his wand at it, "Evanesco." Then, he walked out of the room.

A few moments later he heard footsteps running up behind him. He turned to see Ron and Hermione following what appeared to be a very furious Severus Snape. "Potter!" he snarled.

Harry looked back at him with what could only be construed as amusement, "Yes, Professor Snape?"

Snape growled at Harry, "Potter, that will be one hundred points from Gryffindor, and a week's worth of detentions!"

Harry snorted, "I don't think so, Snape. For you see, you are not my Professor anymore, and this incident took place in the Great Hall, so the only Professors that can decide the punishment for me would be my own Head of House or the Headmaster. As you are neither, you can do nothing to me."

Snape snarled, "Maybe not, but I can give you detention and take away points for being disrespectful to me in the corridor!"

Harry laughed directly in Snape's face, "You could try that, Snivellus, but I wouldn't recommend it. I don't know how long you would stay alive if you did."

Hermione gasped, and Ron merely goggled at Harry in shock. Snape advanced on Harry with his wand drawn, "How dare you threaten to kill me, Potter? I will have you expelled for this."

Harry sneered at Snape, "I see that being in Slytherin has gotten you too accustomed to threats. I have no intention of killing you unless you give me no choice. I was merely pointing out that you would have a difficult time staying alive if I were to send Voldemort a little message that let him know about your night job with the Bird Club. I'm sure that he would be very interested in such information."

Snape took a step back in horror, "You wouldn't?"

Harry continued to sneer at the Potions Master, "Oh, I assure you that I would, Severus. You have done nothing for the past five years, but make my life miserable. I think it would only be fitting that I gave you a last day filled with torture before you were murdered. It would be no more than you deserve. So, I suggest that you keep your greasy hair and hook nose out of my sight." Harry turned and spun away with his cloak swirling behind him.

Snape stood there with his mouth working back and forth with no sound coming out, while Hermione and Ron stood behind him aghast at what they had just heard.

A/N: I hope that everyone enjoys this little twist to the story. For those of you that don't, just imagine the confrontation between Harry and Lucius Malfoy. Happy reading.


	5. Umbridge

Chapter 5:

Umbridge

Snape stormed into Dumbledore's office several minutes later. Dumbledore looked up at him in surprise, "What is it, Severus?"

Snape growled, "Your precious Potter just threatened my life."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, "How?"

"He threatened to send a message to the Dark Lord telling him that I was a spy for the Order."

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed in fury, "Harry was talking about the Order where anyone could hear him?"

Snape shook his head, "No, he used clever euphemisms so that no one would know what he was talking about, but the fact remains that he threatened my life, Albus."

Fury still seemed to radiate from Dumbledore as he stood up, "I will see to this, Severus. For now, stay clear of Harry until I can sort it out."

Dumbledore strode from his office towards Gryffindor Tower in a rage that no one could mistake. People scurried out of his way as he walked down the corridor.

Meanwhile, Hermione and Ron had caught up to Harry as he entered the common room. Hermione shrieked, "Harry, how dare you talk that way to your professor?!"

Harry cut her off with a glare that could have silenced even Snape, "Snape is no longer my professor, Hermione. So, I will speak to him anyway that I please. If you don't like that then you can go to hell."

Ron began to protest, but Harry cut him off with a swipe of his hand, "Don't give me any of your useless advice, Ron. I don't need it right now. Concerning Snape I will keep my own counsel. Its funny, though. I was under the impression that the two of you were my friends. Snape has been treating me like dirt for the last five years, and neither of you have run off after him to his quarters to give him a lecture for what he said to me. Yet I get one just because I finally tell him off."

Hermione protested, "But you threatened him, Harry."

Harry snorted, "He's been threatening me for ages. I think that one good turn deserves another."

At that moment, Dumbledore burst into the common room wearing an expression that would make Voldemort cringe. Ron and Hermione quickly scrambled out of his line of sight. Harry, however, didn't so much as flinch when Dumbledore locked his gaze onto him.

Dumbledore stalked forward towards Harry and reached out to grab him by his arm, but Harry said coldly, "Lay a hand on me, and you will be going to Madam Pomphrey for emergency arm regeneration."

Dumbledore paused and stepped back as though he had been slapped. Then, the fury returned to his eyes, and he said, "Mr. Potter, I can't allow you to go around speaking to Professors the way that you spoke to Professor Snape."

Harry sneered, "That's funny. You've had no problem letting him talk to me anyway that he pleased for the last five years. I just gave him a message that I won't tolerate it anymore. Now, I'm giving you the same message, old man. If you want to keep your little pet, I suggest you keep him on a leash."

Dumbledore stepped back once more in shock, "Harry, what has happened to you?"

Harry's eyes burned with fury as he seemed to swell with rage, "How dare you ask me such a question? All this is your fault! You were the fool that left me with the Dursleys. I grew up without an ounce of affection being shown to me. Ten years of hell I endured, only to find out that some maniac wanted me dead. Even then, I was forced to return to that hellhole every summer. The last two summers I have desperately needed someone to talk to when I left this school, and yet I was still forced to go back there for my protection. Some protection that was. Voldemort still managed to get me, and I suffered torture at the hands of his pathetic Death Eaters for over a month, and you have the audacity to be mad at me for defending myself against people who mistreat me for no reason other than the fact that I look like James Potter!" Harry took a step closer to Dumbledore, and said in the most menacing and deadly cold voice that had ever come from his mouth, "I will have no hesitation about carrying out exactly what I said to Snivellus, old man, and if you don't like it, then you can go to hell with him. I don't care anymore. I am going to study, and then I am going to kill. That should make you happy. I have always been your little weapon, and now I have the one thing that I lacked, the capacity to murder someone. There is nothing stopping me now from killing Voldemort. All I need is the time and the place, and I am sure that will come. Now, if you don't mind, I have studying to do." Harry spun and swept out of the common room with his cloak billowing behind him once again.

Ron half laughed, "No matter what else you say about Harry's new attitude, he sure knows how to make an exit."

Dumbledore sighed, "He also knows exactly what to say to make you feel like a chastened three year old as well."

Hermione sniffed, "I just want the old Harry back."

Dumbledore shook his head sadly, "I am afraid that after what he has been though, that is an impossibility. I just hope that he doesn't descend any farther than what he already has." With this cryptic message, Dumbledore walked out through the portrait hole and back to his office.

The next evening at dinner, Harry received a message from Dumbledore. It said simply;

__

Harry,

The Minister of Magic will be here after dinner, and he requests your presence in his office. We will meet at 7:30. The password is Canary Cream.

Albus Dumbledore

After dinner Harry made his way up to the Headmaster's office, and gave the gargoyle the password. It lightly leaped aside and Harry walked up the stairs and knocked on the door.

Dumbledore's voice rang out from inside, "Come in, Mr. Potter."

Harry walked in the door to see Albus seated at his desk with Professor McGonagall standing just back of him on his left side. Cornelius Fudge was standing in front of Dumbledore's desk on the right side, and seated on Harry's right were none other than Dolores Umbridge and Percy Weasley. Harry whipped out his wand and pointed it at Umbridge before shifting his eyes over to Fudge and snarling, "What is she doing here, Cornelius?! How dare you bring her back to Hogwarts?!"

Fudge seemed startled at Harry's vehement reaction, "Now, Harry, calm down. You wouldn't want to do anything drastic."

Harry sneered at the Minister and said coldly, "I might, considering some of the things this bitch has done to me."

Percy rose from his seat and said, "I don't think that you realize the seriousness of threatening an official in the Ministry, Potter."

Harry spun and grabbed Percy by the front of his robes and pulled him forward off balance, and then kicked out with foot and pushed with his arm to send Percy wind milling back into his seat. Harry leaned down in front of him, and said menacingly, "I know exactly what I am doing, Percy, and if you speak again in my presence then I will ensure that you are the first Weasley in generations to go without having children." Then, Harry spun back to point his wand at Umbridge, and said clearly, "I want her out of here, before we have an incident."

Dumbledore rose from behind his desk, "Now, Mr. Potter, you are not being reasonable."

"REASONABLE! Are you mad? This is the woman who ordered dementors after me in Little Whinging last summer, she forced me to do detention with a Blood Quill last year, and then she was planning on using the Cruciatus Curse on me the night we left school to go the Ministry. So, how can you accuse me of not being reasonable?"

Dumbledore and McGonagall paled at the news of this revelation. Dumbledore turned a furious gaze on Umbridge and snarled in a good imitation of Harry's earlier tone, "Get the hell out of my school. This will be discussed at the next meeting of the Wizengamot."

Umbridge jumped up and fled from the room. Percy Weasley continued to sit in his seat dumbfounded at the accusations that had been presented. Dumbledore turned to Fudge, who trembled at the sight of the furious wizard in front of him, "Did you know about any of this, Cornelius?"

Fudge shook his head emphatically, "I knew that she was punishing him, but I didn't know anything about the Blood Quill, and I definitely didn't know about the dementors or the Cruciatus Curse."

Dumbledore sat back down, "Fine, then, we can continue with what you came here for this evening."

Harry asked coldly, "And what would that be?"

Dumbledore replied in an even voice, "The Minister has expressed concern over the incidents concerning you over the last few days. He believes that it is unwise to allow you to remain at school since he feels that it could be dangerous to other students."

Harry turned and smirked at the Minister, "Oh, really. Well, I think that I can lay your doubts to rest, Minister. The only people that have anything to fear from me are those that are in league with Voldemort, Unfortunately that does include a few students, but I will refrain from harming them more than minimally while they are at Hogwarts, but once they leave these walls and I meet them on the battlefield with their Death Eater parents, I will not hesitate to kill any one of them. Does that clear things up for you, Cornelius?"

Cornelius opened his mouth to reply, but Harry cut him off, "I wasn't expecting a reply from you. That was merely my way of dismissing a pompous old fool. Since you seem to be too dimwitted to actually comprehend what I said, then I fear that I must be more direct. Take your stool pigeon over here and get the hell out of here."

Cornelius seemed to be too shocked to articulate any sort of reply as he and Percy scrambled to obey the obviously deranged and powerful young man that they found before them.

Dumbledore sighed as Cornelius fled his office, "Harry, I'm not for sure that was wise. The Minister could be a dangerous enemy."

Harry snorted in disdain, "I have many powerful and dangerous enemies, Headmaster. To count that bumbling fool as one of them is not only insulting, it is completely laughable."

Dumbledore shook his head, "I don't mean that he could challenge you in a duel, Harry. He could have you arrested or committed."

Harry smiled, "I would like to see him try. We won't have much to worry about from him. He won't be Minister of Magic much longer."

McGonagall queried, "How do you know that, Potter?"

Harry chuckled darkly, "I have my ways, Professor. Of that you can be sure." Then, Harry turned and walked out of the office.

McGonagall turned and looked at Dumbledore, "Albus, what did he mean by that?"

Dumbledore shrugged, "I wish that I knew, Minerva. I wish that I knew."

For the next several days, Harry spent most of his free time in the library. To everyone else it looked as if he were pulling random books about defense off the shelf and making notes about them in a Muggle notebook of all things. In reality, the Muggle notebook was what Harry had transfigured notes on Death Eater activity and spells that he had found in Lucius Malfoy's mansion. He had found these, and several of Lucius' engineered magical explosives. Those he intended to put to good use. In the notes, he found several pages on how Voldemort burned the Dark Mark into his subjects. Harry wanted to use this knowledge to burn the mark of the Dark Phoenix into him. There were also some notes on Harry's scar and the connection it created to Voldemort. Obviously, Voldemort had Lucius working on the concept before he was captured that night in the Department of Mysteries. By reading through Lucius' notes it became obvious that Occlumency would do little good at arresting Voldemort's ability to invade his mind, but the notes did suggest for some things that Voldemort to do that could keep Harry out of his mind, so Harry decided that the charms could definitely aid him as well.

Harry stood up and put the defense book back on the shelf and then swept out of the library, smiling roguishly at Madam Pince and giving her a small wink as he passed. The usually stern librarian blushed slightly at the attractive young man that Harry had become. Harry went directly to the Room of Requirement and walked it to find the DA assembled and practicing under the leadership of Neville Longbottom. Harry paused in surprise at the sight.

Ginny was the first to notice him, "Harry!" The entire room whipped around to look at the door. Most of them seemed embarrassed that they were there, especially Neville.

Neville walked over and said reluctantly, "Harry, we decided to start up the DA again while you were still out of it. We were going to give you a few more weeks to really recuperate before we asked you to take back over."

Harry shook his head, "I don't have the time to run the DA, so you should continue as you were. There are many other things that require my attention, but I will give you some suggestions about spells to practice on if you would like. I'll let all of you get on with your practice, and I will find someplace else to do what I need."

Hermione said, "Why don't you stay here? You could practice with us."

Harry shook his head once again, "What I need to do requires solitude. So, I go elsewhere. Neville, catch up to me later if you want some tips on spells and we'll talk about it. I have a couple of good ideas already. Have fun." Harry turned and swept from the room with his cloak billowing behind him as was his custom now.

Harry found a deserted classroom, and performed the charms that were listed in Lucius' notes on himself, and then decided he could use a little practice. Before doing so though, he burned the mark of the Dark Phoenix onto his upper left forearm. Then, he grabbed one of the suits of armor and began hurling hexes and jinxes at it. He did this for a couple of hours until it was time to return to the dormitory. He ran up to the common room, and looked around. He spotted Ginny, Ron, and Hermione sitting in the corner and walked over to them.

Hermione looked up and said, "Harry, we hope you don't mind about us starting the DA without you."

Harry waved his hand, "Don't worry about it. As I said earlier, I don't have the time to run it. Neville seemed to be doing an excellent job from what I saw. I don't think you could have picked a better replacement for me."

Ron asked, "What about me?"

Harry eyed him as if he were crazy, "What about you?"

Ron continued indignantly, "I'm your best friend, they should have asked me to take over as leader."

Harry continued to eye Ron as if he were drunk or something, "Why? Being someone's best friend isn't exactly good credentials for a job. You almost sound like Malfoy. You expect something just because of who you are."

Ron flushed red in anger, "Are you comparing me to Malfoy?"

Harry shook his head, "No, you just compared yourself to Malfoy. I just pointed it out. Anyway, I'm going to go up to bed. I'm kind of tired. Night."

Ron watched Harry go up the stairs, and he pounded the arm of the chair he was sitting in, "I can't believe that he said that to me."

Hermione and Ginny shrugged, and Ginny said, "Well, you are being a prat about this, and all he did was point it out."

Ron jumped up, "Fine! I guess I'm just an immature little brat. I'll leave you all alone so you don't have to put up with the little kid." Then, he stormed out the portrait hole.

Hermione looked over at Ginny, "What is his problem?"

Ginny replied, "Well, Ron has always felt overshadowed by our brothers, Harry, me, and you. He wants something to make him special. He doesn't realize that he doesn't have to have a title to be special, but that's all he thinks about. Ron only worries about what he doesn't have. He never seems to see what he has that others don't. He would trade places with Harry in an instant just to have the fame and the money. He would never even think about the consequences of being Harry."

Hermione sighed, "I'm glad Ron isn't the Boy-Who-Lived. He would never have stood up to the challenges that Harry has. Ron is a follower not a leader."

Ginny nodded in agreement, and the two girls went back to their homework.

Meanwhile, Harry had made his way up to the dormitory, and cast the illusion charm on his bed again, before swirling the cloak around him. He slipped back downstairs with the Marauder's Map in his hand, and snuck quietly out the portrait hole. He tapped the map with his wand, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Using the map, Harry made his way to the statue of the one-eyed witch, and tapped it, "Dissendium."

Harry made his way down the now familiar tunnel to Honeydukes, and dropped some Floo Powder into the fireplace. He slipped in and said clearly, "Umbridge Estate."

Harry popped out on the other end of the Floo connection to find himself in a large sitting room with lace doilies on all surfaces, with figurine cats all over the place. Harry shuddered in revulsion at the sight, and crept stealthily out of the room. He heard voices near the kitchen and paused. He recognized Umbridge's voice immediately, but couldn't quite place the other voice. So, he continued to slide forward silently till he could see into the room. Umbridge stood talking to none other than Percy Weasley.

Umbridge's falsely sweet voice said, "Cornelius wants us to find someway for him to have that Potter boy kicked out of school. He thinks that he is dangerous to the other students, and that he will also bring You-Know-Who to Hogwarts since Potter is his target."

Percy nodded, "I know, but it will be difficult to do. Potter has always been Dumbledore's favorite. He has allowed him to get away with anything that he wanted since he has been at school. He also covers things up so that they don't reach the ears of the governors."

The expression on Harry's face darkened, "I'm going to show them." Harry aimed his wand at Percy first, "Stupefy!" The red jet of light struck Percy and knocked him to the ground stunned. Umbridge whipped out her wand and spun around, but she was too little too late, Harry brandished his wand and screamed, "Reducto!" Umbridge was slammed into the wall at an immense speed, and she crumpled to the ground. Harry waved his wand, "Accio wands." Percy's and Umbridge's wands flew towards him. He waved his wand over Percy once again, "Ferula." Ropes flew out and tied Percy up. Then, Harry said, "Enervate!"

Percy jerked awake and said in shock, "Potter!"

Harry sneered, "Yes, I'm Potter. Now, you should be thankful that you are a Weasley, because this time I am going to spare your life. Beware the next time you cross the Dark Phoenix, though, for I will not hesitate to kill you after this. You have had your warning."

Harry grabbed Percy by the hair of the head, and drug him outside the house towards some trees that were several hundred yards away. Harry kicked Percy in the ribs and smirked, "Now, we can't have you remembering who I am so I'm going to perform a Memory Charm on you. I'm going to leave your wand over here." Harry dropped Percy's wand a few feet away, "I'm sure the Order and the Ministry will find you shortly. Obliviate!" As soon as he cast the spell, Harry slipped back under the invisibility cloak. Then, he shot his mark with its message into the air, before racing back into the house, and dropping one of Lucius' magical explosives, and leaping into the Floo.

The bomb exploded several moments later, and within minutes Ministry personnel were all over the scene. Dumbledore and several of the Order members weren't far behind.

Dumbledore stared up at the mark in the sky in horror, for written below in flames were these words.

****

Let This Be A Warning To Those Who Scorn The Dark Phoenix.

Even Those That Do Not Follow Voldemort Shall Suffer Justice.

If It Is Necessary

The Dark Phoenix Will Come

Remus looked up at Dumbledore, "Albus, who do you think this Dark Phoenix is?"

Albus shrugged, "I'm not sure, Remus, but for some reason I'm terrified that it is Harry."

Arthur asked, "Why would you think it could be Harry? He's safely tucked away at Hogwarts isn't he?"

Dumbledore nodded, "As far as I know, but I don't know of anyone else who would hate Umbridge badly enough to kill her, and still be against Death Eaters."

Mad-Eye nodded, "True, but I don't think Potter would be able to pull this off. Where would he have gotten the magical explosives to blow the house. Its not like those things are easy to make, and Harry shouldn't have any of the Dark Arts knowledge necessary to make something of that magnitude."

Albus sighed, "I hope you are right, but just to be careful, I think that we all need to keep a much closer eye on young Mr. Potter."

All the Order members nodded in solemn agreement.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story as it progresses. I should have the next chapter by the middle of next week. Happy reading.


	6. Voldemort Strikes Back

Chapter 6:

Voldemort Strikes Back

The next morning, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry sat down at breakfast together, while Ron refused to look at any of them. Hermione sighed, "I wish he would just get over it."

Harry snorted, "He will. You just have to give him some time. I did mention that he was acting like Malfoy. He's either going to have to admit that was the way he was acting to himself or forget about it. If he forgets about it, then he is just going to act that way again, and we will be right back to square one. So, I hope he can acknowledge how stupid he is being."

Hermione sighed again, "I still miss having him over here with us."

Harry smirked, "Well, then I suppose that you could just go plant one on him, and then tell him he's being an ass. That would probably speed things up."

Ginny laughed, as Hermione blushed and looked mortified. She stammered, "What makes you think that I would want to kiss Ron?"

Harry gave Hermione a patronizing look, "Hermione, I'm not stupid, contrary to what you think most of the time. I've noticed the looks the two of you have been giving each other for nearly two years now. I think its about time one of you decided to do something about it."

Hermione blushed even worse, and said, "I don't think I could do anything like that."

Harry shrugged indifferently, "That's up to you. For now, let's eat." Then, Harry bent his head to his food. A few minutes later the Post owls came soaring in through the window and began delivering the morning mail. An owl dropped a letter in front of Harry, while Hermione paid the Daily Prophet owl and unrolled the morning paper. At the same time Harry unrolled his message. He immediately recognized the Headmaster's handwriting.

Harry,

I would like for you to come to my office this evening for a meeting. Several members of the Order will be there. We have some things that we must discuss with you. We will await you at seven o'clock. The password is Acid Pops.

Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster of Hogwarts

Harry looked up from his note to find Hermione reading furiously, and Ginny looking back and forth between the two of them as if she didn't know which one to interrupt first. Ginny finally settled on Harry, "So, what's going on?"

Harry upturned one side of his mouth in a crooked grin, and winked at the beautiful young redhead, "Just a note from Dumbledore. He wants to see me this evening after dinner."

Ginny smiled back at Harry and then turned to Hermione, "So, Hemrione, spill. What's so important that you've read the article three times?"

Hermione didn't reply. She just handed the paper over so that Harry and Ginny could read it. The headline jumped out at them.

Dark Phoenix Strikes Again

In another surprise attack last night, the mark of the Dark Phoenix was seen again in the skies. This time over the blasted remains of the home of Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Dolores Umbridge. Ms. Umbrige's body was recovered from the wreckage of the house. The sole witness to this event seems to have been, Junior Aide to the Minister, Percy Weasley. Mr. Weasley seemed quite confused about his surroundings while being interrogated by the Ministry Aurors, but it is known that he saw the Dark Phoenix, but can't seem to recall what he looks like. This leads the Aurors to believe that he is under the power of an extremely powerful Memory Charm. This indicates that whatever testimony he might give is almost positively flawed, and quite likely useless. The message that the Dark Phoenix left is quite similar to the last one, but seems to indicate that Dolores Umbridge was in fact, not a follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. (See accompanying photo)

Harry and Ginny both glanced up at the photo caption on the front page to see the Dark Phoenix emblazoned in a starry sky, and beneath it the words clearly written in fire.

Let This Be A Warning To Those Who Scorn The Dark Phoenix.

Even Those That Do Not Follow Voldemort Shall Suffer Justice.

If It Is Necessary

The Dark Phoenix Will Come

Harry grinned with a slight tinge of malice apparent in his eyes, "I like this guy. Justice has long since been missing from the wizarding world. Its about time that it was brought back."

Hermione looked horrified, "Harry, you can't be serious. Whoever this Dark Phoenix is, is using tactics like Lord Voldemort to fight this war. You can't seriously think that stooping to Voldemort's level is justified."

Harry turned to Hermione, "I think that it is perfectly justified. Have you ever heard the old saying that you're going to fight fire with fire?"

Hemrione nodded, and Ginny did as well. Harry continued, "Well, I think its time to fight fire with fire, ice, and any goddamned thing else that I can get my hands on. By the time I'm through with the Death Eaters, they won't know what hit them."

Ginny pursed her lips thoughtfully, "The way you talk, Harry, you'd think that you were the Dark Phoenix."

Harry turned a cold gaze onto Ginny and said, "I just might be." Then, he stood up and walked away.

Ginny looked at Hermione and said, "Do you think he was serious?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, I don't think so. I admit that Harry has been acting weird since he woke up from this summer, but I don't think that he would be capable of killing anyone, even Umbridge. All the same, though, I think tha twe should keep a close watch on him for awhile."

Ginny nodded, and continued eating her breakfast.

That evening after dinner, Harry made his way up to the Headmaster's office, and gave the gargoyle the password, "Acid Pops." It leapt out of his way and he continued up the moving staircase and into the office. Several members of the Order were present in the office when Harry arrived. Professor McGonagall, Remus, Mad-Eye, Tonks, Kingsley, Arthur, and Molly were all there. Professor Dumbledore was seated behind his desk, and he motioned for Harry to have the final remaining seat. Harry nodded to everyone and sat.

After a few moments of tense silence, Dumbledore finally spoke, "Harry, we know that you have been reading the paper, so you know about the two attacks in the past few days by this Dark Phoenix. What I would like to know is your opinion on the matter?"

Harry raised one eyebrow, and asked, "What do you mean by my opinion?"

Dumbledore sighed, "I mean, what do you think about someone waging a private war against Voldemort?"

Harry grinned sinisterly, "I think its brilliant. There's almost no way for you to be caught if no one knows who you are. You can use the same tactics that the Death Eaters use against them."

Mad-Eye snorted, "So, you think that its okay to kill people in cold-blood."

Harry returned the Auror's snort, and added a glare that would make even Snape proud, "I hardly think that killing Death Eaters can be considered cold blood. They deserve anything and everything that they get."

Tonks asked, "What about Umbridge?"

Harry's face darkened, "That bitch deserved worse than what she got."

Everyone exchanged alarmed looks at the tone of Harry's voice. Their was deep, unforgiving hatred apparent in his voice. Dumbledore sadi quietly, "Surely, no one deserves death, Harry."

Harry rounded a furious gaze on Dumbledore, "You better hope that I never believe that, old man. Otherwise everyone in this room can kiss their asses goodbye. If I don't feel that Voldemort deserves death, then he can do whatever he pleases. You can worry about giving everyone second chances if you want to, Headmaster. I don't forgive that easily. When the time comes, I am going to rip Voldemort's heart out and eat it. Then, I'm going to piss on his remains. So, is there anything else that you want to know?"

Dumbledore gulped, "No, Harry, I believe that is everything for now, except that I would like you to consider continuing your Occlumency lessons."

Harry sneered, "What makes you think that I would need Occlumency lessons?"

Dumbledore sighed, "Professor Snape felt that you made little progress in your abilities last year."

Harry laughed, "Like that greasy headed fool would know anything about power. If you think that I need testing, then try to break my mind."

Dumbledore stood, "Very well, Harry. Prepare yourself." Harry merely folded his arms over his chest. Dumbledore repeated, "I said to prepare yourself, Harry."

Harry sneered once again, "I was prepared when I walked in the room. So, get on with it."

Dumbledore whipped his wand around, "Legilimens."

Seemingly, nothing happened. So, Dumbledore tried again, "Legilimens." Yet, again, nothing happened. Dumbledore's eyes widened, "This is impossible. No one could progress this far in Occlumency that quickly. You shouldn't be able to repel me so easily. Very few masters of Occlumency could do this so easily."

Harry grinned, "Voldemort could."

Arthur asked, "How does that help?"

Harry continued to grin, "The fool possessed me in the Department of Mysteries. By doing so he awakened powers that he had given me long ago through this accursed scar. One of them was Occlumency. I am now his equal, and he knows it. That's why they spent so much time this summer trying to break me with torture, so that they could get the Prophecy. If I hadn't been powerful in Occlumency, he would have just invaded my mind and extracted the knowledge that he wanted."  
Dumbledore paled, "I never thought of that. I just assumed he was afraid to get near you for fear of what the Prophecy might allow you to do to him."

Harry shrugged, "That was part of it, but probing my mind with Legilimency had never harmed him before, so there was no reason for him to fear it when he had my wand. Now, if you will excuse me, I have homework to do." Harry turned and stalked from the Headmaster's office.

Once the door was closed and Harry had left the room, a babble of voices broke out, "What is going on, Albus? Is he really that powerful? Is he dangerous?"

Dumbledore raised his hands for quiet, "I think that we are going to have to place guards around Mr. Potter for the time being. I want someone following him every moment that he is in the castle. Alastor, I trust you to set up the shifts for this."

Molly interrupted, "I don't know about this. It just feels wrong. Harry has suffered enough, and it just doesn't seem fair to give him the idea that we don't trust him."

Arthur patted Molly's arm, "I know how you feel, dear, but it is very possible that Harry is the Dark Phoenix, and if he is, we have to wonder what he is up to."

That night, Voldemort staged a massive, coordinated strike on Muggles throughout London. The next morning's Daily Prophet contained a large picture of the Dark Mark.

Dark Mark Appears in Muggle London

Last evening in the most massive attack since You-Know-Who's return, over twenty Muggle homes in London were attacked. At least fifty Muggles have been reported dead. Identities are not being revealed at this time, but will be realeased at some point in the future. The Ministry is still attempting to discern whether there was a pattern to these attacks, or if they were just random Muggle killings like during the last war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Everyone can only hope that someone will finally be able to defeat this menace to out very existence.

A few tears leaked down Hermione's face as she read the article to Harry, Ginny, and Neville, "It's just horrible. What are we going to do about this? What if they come after our families next?"

Harry turned a menacing gaze towards the Head Table and met Severus Snape's eyes. Severus shuddered at the malevolence shining across the Great Hall at him. He had a feeling that Potter was not happy, and in the current state he was in, Severus wasn't sure if that boded well for him. Harry returned his gaze to Hermione and said, "What we are going to do is simple. We're going to kill every last one of them. This time around there will be no taking prisoners. If the followers of the Dark Arts realize that there is a consequence to following Voldemort, then they won't be so eager to follow the next Dark Lord."

Ginny asked, "What do you mean the next Dark Lord?"

Harry sighed, "There will always be someone to take this one's place after I rip his head off."

Ginny chuckled, "Harry, you act like you're going to be the one that kills Voldemort."

Harry smiled evilly, "That's because I am, Ginny. I'm the only one who can."

Hermione looked up in alarm, "What does that mean? You're no match for Voldemort."

Harry laughed cruelly, "I wouldn't be too sure of that, Hemrione."

Throughout the course of the day it became apparent that there had been an agenda for the attacks the night before. Muggle relatives of Hogwarts' students had been killed. The Ministry was watching out for the parents of Muggle-Born parents, but more distant relatives like aunts, uncles and cousins didn't fall under this protection. Black envelopes were delivered to students all throughout the morning. Hermione lost an aunt and two cousins.

That night in the common room, Hermione was crying, and Ginny was trying to comfort her, while Harry and Neville sat close by. Ron walked over and said, "I don't know what you are so upset about. At least it wasn't your parents."

Hermione leaped up and ran from the room in tears at this statement. Ginny leaped to her feet, "You bastard." Then, she swung an arm and smacked Ron hard in the face. As Ron stepped back in shock, Neville, Dean,a nd Seamus tackled him to the ground and began beating the hell out of him. Harry, quietly got up and followed Hermione out of the common room.

He caught up to her in the Room of Requirement. She had created a bedroom to sleep in. Harry raised his eyebrows at the surroundings, "Are you going to sleep here, tonight."

Hermione nodded, sniffling, "I just don't want to be around everyone tonight."

Harry nodded, "I understand. I'll leave you, then."

As Harry turned back towards the door, Hermione shouted, "NO!" Harry turned back around. She continued, "Don't go. I don't want to be completely alone either. Will you stay with me tonight?"

Harry nodded, "Sure. What are friends for?" Then, he waved his wand and transfigured his robes into pajamas, and then did the same for Hermione. They crawled into the massive bed, and Hermione grabbed Harry in a fierce hug that would have rivaled one of Molly Weasley's. Harry wrapped one arm around her and let her cry.

After an hour or so, Hermione fell asleep and Harry allowed himself to drift off beside her. Later, in the middle of the night, Harry awoke to Hermione squirming around inside his arms. He noticed that she was awake as well, and asked, "What are you doing?"

Hermione smiled sheepishly, "I'm not used to sleeping with someone else. I was trying to get comfortable against you."

Harry snickered, "I see. Well, if you want to get comfortable against me, you usually have to take off your clothes. Otherwise they will twist around you from us rubbing against each other in our sleep."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "You know, Mr. Potter, if I didn't know better, I would think that you were trying to get me out of my clothes."

Harry shrugged, "I might be."

Hermione, it appeared was feeling a little wild, said, "And just what would you do with me if you got me out of my clothes, Harry?"

Harry snorted, "I'm a teenage guy, Hermione. I don't think you really have to ask what I would do."

Hermione nodded, "I know, but I want to hear you say it."

Harry eyed Hermione for just a moment before saying, "Fine. I would fuck you like you have never been fucked before, Miss Granger."

Apparently this statement seemed to ignite some kind of fire in Hermione, for she began pulling off her pajama top. Once it was off and her bra was exposed, she said, "Well, let's see what you've got."

Harry needed no more urging. He grabbed Hermione and ripped her bra from her chest, and lowered his mouth onto her breasts and began to suckled the nipples, as he slid his hand down inside her pajama bottoms and panties to begin fingering her while he suckled her breasts. Hermione began to moan with pleasure as Harry continued. She gripped the back of his head and held him closer to her chest as he began to speed the tempo that he had begun inside her. She finally said, "Hurry up and fuck me, Potter. Hurry up and fuck me."

Harry yanked her pajama bottoms and panties off in one swift move, and then raised up above her to remove his own clothes. Hermione got one fleeting glimpse of his erect penis before he lowered himself over her and used his hand to guide himself into her. Then, he began thrusting quickly. Hermione gasped in pain at the first few thrusts, but then pulled her legs up and around Harry's hips and began urging him to go faster and harder. Harry complied, and the two began going at it at an almost unbelievable pace. Finally, the two fell back down against the sheets, spent, and fell asleep naked against each other.

A/N: Hopefully, this wasn't too much of a delay, but I got this chapter out. I know some of you are concerned about his sexual immorality, but that is all part of showing that he has no constraints anymore. Although, I must say that Hermione isn't all that far fetched as a sex partner for Harry. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. Happy reading.


	7. Death Eaters on the Prowl

Chapter 7:

Death Eaters on the Prowl

Harry awoke early the next morning and glanced down at Hermione's naked body beside him, and sighed. He hadn't intended to let things go that far, but Hermione's grief had altered her perceptions just enough to let out that side of her, and he had went with it. Deciding that she would most likely be embarrassed when she awoke , Harry put on his clothes and left the Room of Requirement. He headed directly for the library, and went in and began pulling down Defense books and started reading. He did this until it was about time for breakfast, and then he went down to the Great Hall. Hermione was standing just inside the doors waiting for him. He smiled at her, but she didn't return the smile. She merely said, "Harry, we need to talk."

Harry nodded, and the two of them stepped outside of the Great Hall into a corridor. Neither of them noticed Ron hide in the corner to listen to them. Hermione sighed, "Harry, I don't know what came over me last night. We shouldn't have had sex."

Harry nodded, "I know, but sometimes hormones can be a little more to handle than we realize. Both of us know that last night was a mistake, and that the two of us should remain friends not lovers.."

Harry was interrupted at this point by Ron, who could contain himself no more, "Harry, you fucked Hermione. You bastard."

Ron charged at Harry and swung a wild punch. Harry ducked the punch and shoved Ron into the wall. He said calmly, "Ron, I suggest you go somewhere and cool off. I don't want to have to hurt you."

Ron screamed, "Like you could hurt me. You think you're so bloody awesome just because you're the fucking Boy-Who-Lived. I'm sick of you getting everything that you want. I'm going to kick your ass, and prove to everyone that you aren't as great as they think."

Harry sighed, "Great, we get to go through this again. Ron, grow up."

This merely seemed to infuriate Ron farther, because he drew his wand and sent a curse sailing towards Harry. Harry neatly stepped aside, and drew his own wand. Ron continued to hurl hexes and jinxes at Harry, who calmly dodged or blocked each one in turn with an almost bored expression on his face that seemed only to enrage Ron further. Hermione began pleading with him to stop attacking Harry, as the trio gained an audience of students. Finally, Professor McGonagall came along to see what the hold-up was, and she screamed out, "Weasley, Potter, stop this this instant."

Ron ignored her completely, and continued to throw curses at Harry with reckless abandon. Harry replied calmly, "I would be happy to, Professor, but as Ron has yet to relent in his attack, I feel that I have no choice but to continue to defend myself."

Harry's seeming disdain for Ron finally caused Ron to snap, and he screamed, "Explodra!"

Harry whipped his wand in an elaborate figure eight and yelled, "Contran!" A sphere of magic burst from his wand and encompassed the Explosion Hex, where the curse merely dissipated upon contacting the wall behind Harry instead of blowing the wall up. Before anyone could get over the shock of Ron using such a powerful curse on another student, Harry responded with a Disarming Charm. Ron's wand flew into Harry's hands, but this didn't even deter Ron. He dove at a nearby second year, and grabbed the boy's wand from his pocket, and spun back to face Harry. However, Harry was prepared, and jabbed his wand straight at Ron, "Stupefy!" The red jet of light hit Ron square in the chest and he dropped to the ground.

McGonagall was beside herself with fury at being ignored by two of her pupils in such a way. "Explain what was going on here this instant, Potter."

Harry merely shrugged, "Ron was eavesdropping on a private conversation between Hermione and myself. He heard some things that he didn't like, and he attacked me. I defended myself until I was forced to take action against him. Hermione tried to talk him into calming down, but that didn't do any good. You were here for most of it."

McGonagall turned to Hermione, "Miss Granger, is this true?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes, Professor. Ron completely overreacted, and attacked Harry."

McGonagall nodded, "Very well. I will see to Mr. Weasley, then." She waved her wand at Ron, "Mobilicorpus."

She began to walk away with Ron's floating body, but Harry stopped her, "Professor, I think that Euan might need his wand, and here is Ron's." Harry held out Ron's wand to her. She took it, and handed Euan's wand back to him.

The rest of the day passed with rumors flying about Ron attacking Harry in the hall. People were saying that he was being expelled for it, but Harry and Hermione doubted that. Hermione asked timidly at dinner, "What do you think McGonagall will do to him?"

Harry shrugged, "I'm sure that it will involve several detentions, and I wouldn't doubt she will pull his Prefect badge."

Hermione gasped, "Surely not."

Ginny snorted, "Its not like Ron is a very good prefect anyway, Hermione. The only reason he even does half of what he is supposed to is because you make him."

Neville nodded, "If she does take away his badge, then I wonder who she will get to replace him?"

Ginny pointed at Harry, "Him, of course."

Harry snorted, "No one in their right mind would make me a prefect."

Hermione nodded, "No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect either."

Harry nodded, "True, but even if by some miracle chance it was offered to me, I would have to refuse."

Hermione asked, "Why?"

Harry shrugged, "I have more important things to do with my time."

Ginny asked, "Like what?"

Harry replied vaguely, "Preparing."

Hermione sniffed, "That's not much of an answer."

"It's the best you're going to get." answered Harry.

At that moment, Ron walked back into the Great Hall. He eyed the four of them sitting together, and seemed to come to a decision. Then, he walked over to them and sat down. Ginny eyed him and asked, "Have you calmed down, now?"

Ron grumbled as he began spooning food onto his plate, "I suppose."

Ginny continued to pester him, "So, what kind of punishment did McGonagall give you?"

Ron mumbled back, "Two weeks detention with Filch, and she pulled my Prefect badge."

Neville nodded, "That's about what we figured. Did she say who she was going to give the badge to?"

Ron shook his head back and forth, "Not to me."

The group finished dinner, and then went up to the common room. Harry slipped away from them, and headed for the Room of Requirement to study some more hexes and jinxes. He entered the room, and heard the scuffing of feet behind him as he went in, and smiled wryly to himself. Then, he said, "Tonks, since you're going to be here, you might as well help me practice."

Harry listened intently, but could hear no sound. It seemed that Tonks had even stilled her breathing to avoid detection. Harry sighed, "If I must, then I suppose I must. Accio invisibility cloak."

The invisibility cloak was ripped away from Tonks grasp and flew to Harry. She grinned ruefully, "Wotcher, Harry. How did you know it was me?"

Harry snorted, "Moody breathes funny, and would have probably uses a silencing charm because of his wooden leg. I would have never heard Kingsely, he's too quiet, and I would have smelled Mundungus from a mile away. I doubt Moody would put anyone else into the rotation for following me."

Tonks eyes narrowed, "We're just here to protect you, Harry."

Harry chuckled, "If you really expect me to believe that Tonks, then you are extremely naïve. I know exactly why Dumbledore has people following me around inside the walls of Hogwarts. Its to make sure that I don't leave because he thinks that I am the Dark Phoenix."

The look of astonishment on Tonks face gave Harry all the information he needed. She asked, "How did you come up with all that?"

Harry snorted once again, "I'm not stupid, Tonks. I know how the old man thinks."

Tonks' face darkened, "Now, Harry, you shouldn't talk about Dumbledore like that. He's a great man."

Harry laughed cruelly, "He's a great fool. He seeks to limit the movements of his greatest weapon simply because he suspects I might not play fair with the helpless little Death Eaters. The old man is entirely too forgiving. He wants me to kill Voldemort and Voldemort alone, so that he can reclaim the Death Eaters. He's too naïve to realize that the Death Eaters enjoy the evil just as much as Voldemort, and they deserve death as well."

Tonks sighed, "I don't think so, Harry. Everyone deserves a second chance."

Harry's eyes darkened, "No, Tonks, they don't. Nor do I intend to give them one. I fully intend to hunt down every last Death Eater, and rid the Earth of their presence."

Tonks attempted to placate Harry, "I don't really think that would be necessary, harry. Most of them would just go back to being pains without You-Know-Who to lead them. They don't have the initiative to do things like this on their own."

Harry took a menacing step toward Tonks and growled, "I don't give a damn about their initiative. They tortured me and I will slit their throats in their fucking sleep if I have to, to gain my revenge."

Tonks shivered as she stepped back, "Harry, you're starting to scare me."

A maniacal glint appeared in Harry's eyes, as a wicked smile spread across his face, "Good. Now use that fear and attack me. I need the practice, and I suppose that an Auror will be good enough to give me a workout."

Tonks shook her head, "I don't want to hurt you, Harry."

At this Harry erupted in crazed laughter, "Hurt me?! How could anyone as pathetic as you ever hurt me. I am a master."

This crazed laughter seemed to break Tonks, so she drew her wand and said, I'm sorry, Harry." Then, she launched a very powerful bludgeoning curse. Harry easily sprang aside to dodge the curse, and almost immediately sent another one right back at her. Tonks managed to erect a shield and deflect the curse into the wall, but Harry had dove forward into a roll behind the curse, and snapped out a kick to Tonks' side. She doubled up as she grunted in pain,a nd Harry swished his wand, "Expelliarmus!"

A moment later, Tonks' wand was in Harry's hand. He clucked his tongue in amusement, "That was absolutely shameful, Tonks. Surely, an Auror is capable of better than that."

Tonks shook her head as she rubbed her side, "How can you be that fast? I've never seen anyone that fast."

Harry chuckled darkly, "You would be surprised at what overexposure to the Cruciatus Curse will do for your nervous system and muscular tissue as you heal. Everything feels like it is moving in slow motion compared to what I am capable of."

Tonks asked hesitantly, "So, can I have my wand back, Harry?"

Harry smiled in amusement, "Of course. Although, I would suggest that you go let Madam Pomphrey take a look at that rib. I'm sure that it is cracked."

Tonks shook her head, "I'm still on duty for three more hours. I can't go until then."

Harry motioned with his hand, "I'll go with you. That way you can tell your precious Dumbledore that you didn't leave me alone."

Tonks sighed, "Okay, but why are you so mad at Dumbledore?"

Harry shrugged, "Do you even really have to ask? The man forced me to live with the Dursleys for years to keep me safe, but I don't think that I ever felt safe in that house. In the end, Voldemort got to me anyway. So, it was like all those years were for nothing. If I couldn't even be kept from Voldemort's clutches while I was there, what was the point in sending me in the first place? Dumbledore will never be able to answer that question, because he will always think that he acted for the best. Not only that, all of you follow him just as blindly as the Death Eaters follow Voldemort, and he has grown accustomed to everyone doing as they are told simply because he is more powerful than they are. I have challenged his authority, and he doesn't like it. When it comes to that, he is no better than Voldemort. He believes he has the right to command simply because of his position and power."

Tonks pointed out as they trudged along the corridor, "Aren't you doing the same thing, though. You think you should get your way simply because of who you are."

Harry shook his head, "I command no one to follow me. I merely refuse to be commanded. That is hardly the same thing. IF some follow me, then they will do so out of their own free will. I will command them to do nothing. Their own lives are their own choice. Dumbledore has forgotten that somewhere along the line. Even last year when he was trying to admit to making a mistake by not telling me about the Prophecy sooner, all he could talk about was his plan. He forgets that other people might have plans as well, and that is his failing."

Tonks looked at Harry in awe, "When did you get so wise, Harry?"

Harry shrugged, "Wisdom is easily obtained in the face of death, and I have brushed with that door more times than I care to count."

Tonks shuddered at the matter of fact tone with which Harry spoke of his own death. It gave her the creeps. She took a chance and asked, "Are you the Dark Phoenix, Harry?"

Harry snorted and then scowled at her, "Even if I were, would you really expect me to tell you?"

Tonks shook her head, "No, but I think that we could trade information."

Harry eyed her for a moment and then said, "What do you mean?"

Tonks smiled, "Well, I could give you information from the Order if you gave me any information that you might be privy to."

Harry paused, "In other words, you want me to tell you anything that I know for information on Death Eater whereabouts. Interesting. Although, such a deal would only profit me if I were truly the Dark Phoenix."

Tonks nodded, "Of course, I could just tell the Headmaster about you and Hermione."

Harry scowled, "Why would the Headmaster care if I fucked half the girls in Hogwarts. The only thing he's worried about is his weapon. As long as I don't get them pregnant I don't think it much matters what my sex life is like. For that matter, I could sleep with you, and he would care less."

Tonks gave Harry a surreptitious glance, and smiled. Harry laughed, "I saw that, Tonks. And all you have to do is suggest it, and I will take you back to the Room of Requirement and ravage you after you see Madam Pomphrey."

Tonks smiled even wider, "Why, Harry, you are quite the horny little boy. I might just take you up on that. We'll have to see." The two of them entered the Hospital Wing, and Madam Pomphrey fixed up Tonks' rib in no time.

Then, she asked, "How did this happen?"

Tonks replied sheepishly, "I was giving Harry a little dueling practice, and he got past my guard."

Pomphrey nodded, "Well, I would suggest a little less roughness the next time you duel."

The two of them left, and Harry said with a roguish wink, "Yes, I think we should be somewhat more gently the next time we duel, Tonks. The question is, will our next duel be with or without our clothes on?"

Tonks gasped in surprise, and said, "Since you are going to be that bold, young one, I will have to take you up on it. Without. Now, let's go."

The two of them returned to the Room of Requirement, and flung their clothes off as they jumped into bed, and commenced with a series of sexual positions. Once they were through, Tonks fell back against the bed, and said, "No way was Hermione your first time."

Harry grinned, "Did I say she was?"

Tonks raised her eyebrows in surprise, "No, but I assumed. I mean you are only sixteen."

Harry snorted, "Yeah, that's what people tell me when they find out that I have faced Voldemort six times."

Tonks winced at the reminder, "Sorry."

Harry waved it away with his hand and then brought it down to fondle her breast, "I don't know why, but I am going to trust you, Tonks. I am the Dark Phoenix. Now, what kind of information do you have for me?"

Tonks grinned, "The Order has discovered a safe house in Hogsmead that the Death Eaters are using to coordinate spy activity on Hogwarts. They are thinking about raiding it, but they are afraid that it would tip off You-Know-Who that they have a spy in his midst."

Harry grinned evilly, "But he wouldn't suspect that if the Dark Phoenix hit the safe house, because he knows by now that not even Dumbledore knows who the Dark Phoenix is. Excellent! It seems that I have some hunting to do tonight. Now, where exactly is this safe house?"

Tonks gave him the correct address, and a description. She explained, "They have wards surrounding the place to alert them of intruders, but they haven't used the Fidelius Charm on it, because there would be too much chance of a betrayal, and then none of the other Death Eaters would be able to find the place again."

Harry nodded, "Now, I just have to plan how to get there."

Tonks sighed, "You'll never be able to get out of the castle tonight. Alastor is on duty tonight. He can see through your invisibility cloak."

Harry smile, "That's okay. I can handle Mad-Eye. Now, there is just one little problem."

Tonks nibbled at Harry's ear, "What is that, Harry?"

Harry continued to smile, "You see, I can't have you reporting back to the old fool about what has just transpired. So, I'm afraid that I must remove your memory." Before Tonks could move, Harry had said, "Obliviate!"

A dreamy expression overcame her face, and Harry cast a few more obscure charms that he had come across in Lucius' notes to mask the Charm, and then he put his and Tonks clothes back on, and sat down as the room changed around him to make it look like the two of them had been dueling. Tonks left a few moments later to change shifts with Alastor Moody, who took over watching Potter as he made his way back up to the dorm. Moody was forced to wait until things quieted down in the common room to be able to stump up to Gryffindor Tower. He very carefully checked Harry's bed to see that he was there, and then made himself comfortable in a corner to wait out the night.

Meanwhile, the Order was convened in Dumbledore's office awaiting the report from Tonks. She walked in and shrugged at the expectant look from Dumbledore, "I have no idea. I gave him the information about the safe house. If he tries to hit it, we will know, otherwise I couldn't get anything from him. All he would do was practice dueling with me, and I have to tell you, he is good."

Albus sighed, "I am afraid that Harry may have put a Memory Charm on you, Tonks. If he is the Dark Phoenix, then we know that he is very adept with them. Will you submit to testing for it?"

Tonks nodded, "Of course."

She took a seat, and Dumbledore cast the Charm to reveal any Memory Charms performed on an individual. The last Memory Charm to be performed on Tonks was shown to be a little more than a Year before, and appeared to be a standard charm used by the Unspeakables when someone found out something they weren't supposed to know."

Dumbledore stepped back in surprise, "Then, the evening must have went as planned. There appears to be no Memory Charm, so all we can do is conclude that if Mr. Potter is the Dark Phoenix, then he is very careful of his identity. Remus, I want you, Arthur, and Bill to watch the safe house tonight. Between the three of you, and Alastor, we should be able to keep an eye out for Harry.

The three of them nodded, and departed for their posts.

Unbeknownst to anyone, however, Harry had cast the illusion charm of himself sleeping, and had climbed out his window, and using a conjured rope, climbed down to the ground and snuck quickly away towards Hogsmeade.

He easily located each of the three Order members as they arrived and took their places. He stunned each of them in turn and bound them with ropes. Then, he crept steadily closer to the safe house until he knew that he must be about to set off the wards. Then, he focused his mind, and hurled the most powerful Explosion Hex that he could manage at the door of the building. As it flew inward from the hex, it collided with several Death Eaters, who were standing in the main room. Harry charged in immediately, and began laying about Cutting Curses. Most of the Death Eaters managed shields, but they did little but deflect the curses into other Death Eaters. Within moments all six Death Eaters present in the room were on the ground bleeding profusely from wounds, and Harry summoned all their wands. He smiled down at each of them in turn, "How the mighty have fallen. I don't know who each of you are, but I'm sure at least one of you was present for one of my many torture sessions."

One of them sneered, "Yes, Potter. I hope you enjoyed it. I know we all enjoyed the show. Now, you can summon your little law enforcement people and take us away." He laughed.

Harry smirked evilly, "No, I'm afraid that prison would be far too good for any of you. Even if I did send you to prison, that halfblooded bastard Voldemort would just end up rescuing you. No, I'm afraid that I prefer all of you dead, Then, he indiscriminately cast Cutting Curses at the horrified Death Eaters until he was certain that each of them had breathed their last breath. Then, he cast several Scouring Charms on himself to clean off the dried blood that had bounced onto him. Then, he sent up a delayed Mark, and hurried back toward the castle. He waited for the Mark to appear in the air, when he knew that Moody would check his bed and then rush for the door. Then, Harry conjured a rope and magically pulled himself up and through his window, and quickly jumped into bed, after transfiguring his clothes into pajamas.

Dumbledore and the others arrived at the scene to find Remus Lupin, Arthur Weasley, and Bill Weasley, bound and stunned with their wands lying on top of them. Then, they approached the safe house and found the mangled remains of the six bodies with the Mark of the Dark Phoenix burning brightly against the air. The message below it read simply.

Voldemort, You Have Been Warned.

Now You Have Been Insulted.

Soon, I Will Scare You.

Then, You Will Die.

The Avatar of Justice Will Come For You.

The Dark Phoenix Has Risen.

A/N: I hope everyone enjoys this. Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews. I'll try to get the next chapter up by next Wednesday, but the next several days are going to be crazy for me, so no promises. Happy reading.


	8. Order Meetings and Confusion

Chapter 8:

Order Meetings and Confusion

After securing the site of the battle and turning it over to the Ministry Aurors, Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix members returned to his office. Dumbledore sighed, "Well, it is as I feared. Harry is the Dark Phoenix."

Mad-Eye shook his head, "That's impossible, Albus. I was in Potter's room the whole time that he would have needed to be gone to perform the attack, and he hasn't moved yet."

Dumbledore appeared to be shocked, "Are you sure, Alastor?"

Moody nodded, "I'm positive. Potter never even got out of bed."

Dumbledore sighed, "Then, it must be coincidence that the Dark Phoenix happened to hit the safe house tonight." He turned to Remus and the Weasleys, "What exactly happened out there?"

Remus shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not entirely sure, Albus. I went to my post and someone stunned me from behind. I never even heard them approach. Whoever this Dark Phoenix is, is either preternaturally quiet or they had cast a Silencing Charm on themselves to be able to sneak up on me in such a way."

Albus turned to the two Weasleys, "How about the two of you?"

Bill sighed, "Pretty much the same thing. Although I don't have the senses that Remus does, so it wouldn't be quite as difficult to sneak up on me."

Arthur nodded, "Same thing for me. The Dark Phoenix doesn't get too flashy apparently. He just gets the job done."

Molly scolded, "Arthur, you almost sound like you support this person."

Arthur made a see-sawing gesture with his hand, "I can't say that I am particularly fond of his method of doing things, but no one can deny that he gets results. There are six dead Death Eaters, and he got away within moments, because there was no trace of him by the time the rest of the Order got there, and they didn't have to travel far. So, whoever he is, he's good."

There was a general murmur of agreement, and then several discussions about future plans, and then the meeting broke up, and everyone went to catch a few hours sleep before daybreak.

The next morning, the five Gryffindors sat down at breakfast as the Post Owls swept in. Hermione paid the owl for her copy of the Daily Prophet, and unfurled the paper. She immediately gasped in shock.

Neville asked, "What is it?"

She replied, "The Dark Phoenix is back."

The others bent over to read the article.

****

Dark Phoenix Strikes Again

__

In a surprise last night, the Dark Phoenix struck a Death Eater safe house in Hogsmeade Village. According to Ministry reports, there were a total of six dead Death Eaters found at the scene, including Antonin Dolohov and Augustus Rookwood, both of whom escaped from Azkaban last year after long terms of imprisonment. After this turn of events, people must truly wonder whether this Dark Phoenix is someone to fear or not. This correspondent thinks that as long as he is killing Death Eaters, then the magical community should support him. We can only hope that he doesn't become a danger to the rest of us as well as You-Know-Who.

Harry whistled as he looked at the accompanying photo, "I must say that I like this Dark Phoenix more and more every time I read about him."

Hermione sniffed, "I don't see how you can say that, Harry. He's killing people."

Harry shook his head, "No, he's not. He's killing Death Eaters. Those slime aren't worthy of being called people anymore. I just can't wait until its Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange being listed among the dead."

Unfortunately for Malfoy, he was walking close enough to the Gryffindor table to hear Harry's comment. He snarled and pulled out his wand to fire a Cutting Curse at Harry. Harry reacted as soon as he heard Malfoy's voice utter the curse. He grabbed a plate from the table and whipped it back over his head to block the curse. Then, he twisted in his seat and dove for the ground to dodge the second curse which slapped into the table. He drew his wand on the way, and fired a volley of return spells. Malfoy managed to block several of them, but couldn't stop them all, and was slammed into the wall by the force a mild Reductor Curse. As he sagged to the ground, and dropped his wand, it was obvious that his ribs were broken, and that he had some internal injuries. Crabbe and Goyle took a menacing step towards Harry, but he merely laughed in their faces, "Please! You two buffoons wouldn't get three steps closer to me before I could curse both of you." Harry waved his wand, "Mobilicorpus! Now take your vaunted leader to Madam Pomphrey."

Crabbe and Goyle looked back and forth between Harry and Malfoy for a moment, before deciding to continue with their normal mode of operation, and follow orders. They began pushing Draco's body from the Great Hall.

Ron eyed Harry, and then asked, "I don't get it. Why did you make it easier for them to take him to the Hospital Wing?"

Harry smiled maliciously, "I want Malfoy back in excellent health. He's much more entertaining when he's at his best."

Neville grinned, "That's positively evil, Harry. I love it."

Harry half bowed at the table, "Why thank you, Neville. I do try to please."

Hermione clucked her tongue disapprovingly, "Harry, I don't think that you should be antagonizing Malfoy. He could be dangerous."

Harry sneered at Hermione, "The ferret is about as dangerous as a Clabbert. He's absolutely nothing to worry about."

Hermione persisted, "Harry, I think you're being a little too cocky.."

Harry cut her off with a slice of his hand, "Hermione, here's a little clue. Don't discuss things about which you know nothing."

Hermione bristled as though she had been slapped. Ron said, "Now, Harry, that's being a little harsh, isn't it?"

Harry snorted, "I think not. Hermione has been trying to force her way of thinking on everyone around her since she has been at Hogwarts. Its time for her to understand that being intelligent doesn't make her right." He turned to Hermione, "You may have all the book sense in the world, Hermione, but the fact remains when it came to a real fight in the Department of Mysteries, you were one of the first to lose your head. Knowing how to do spells in a classroom doesn't make you knowledgeable of when to use them. Good day."

Then, Harry swept away from the table and made his exit from the Great Hall. Hermione muttered bitterly, "He had no right to talk to me like that."

The others exchanged uneasy glances. She snapped at them, "What?"

Ginny said, "Well, Hermione, I will admit that he was a little mean about what he said, but he had a point. We've all thought what he just said at least once a week since we've known you. You are extremely bossy, and you always think you're right, and you try to push everyone else into doing things your way."

Hermione responded hotly, "I do not."

Neville snorted, "What about Spew?"

Hermione replied indignantly, "The house elves deserve wages.."

Ron cut her off, "Why? Because you say so? That's arrogance of the worst kind. The house elves don't want to be paid. Who are you to force them?"

Hermione sputtered indignantly before bursting into tears and running from the room. Ginny jumped up and chased after Harry, while Ron chased after Hermione. Ginny caught up to Harry and said, "Harry, I think that you should apologize to Hermione."

He asked briskly, "Why?"

Ginny sighed, "You were a little mean to her?"

Harry chuckled, "I know. Sometimes you have to be a little mean to get a point across. If I had just told her what I wanted to say, she would have dismissed it as if it were unimportant. By slapping her in the face with it, so to speak, she'll have to think about it. It might hurt her feelings for awhile, but she'll get over it, and probably be a better person for it."

Ginny's mouth opened in shock, "Are you telling me that you weren't really mad at her? You set her up?"

Harry grinned flippantly, "Do I look mad to you?"

Ginny smiled brightly, "Harry Potter, I love you." Then, she grabbed him and planted a big kiss on his mouth. Then, realizing what she had just done, She turned bright red in embarrassment and raced away from Harry as fast as her legs would carry her."

Harry noticed over the course of the next several day that the Order had dropped back watching him around the clock in the castle. He still realized one of them followed him in the corridors, but they left him to himself once he entered Gryffindor Tower for the evening. This suited him just fine. One evening after going to sleep, he was confronted with an odd dream.

Godric Gryffindor appeared before Harry, and said, "It is time for you to learn of your birthright, my Heir."

Harry replied quizzically, "What do you mean, my birthright?"

Godric smiled, "It is time for you to learn all the things that you should have learned long ago, but I have been unable to teach because of the connection you have had to Voldemort. Now that you have successfully shut that connection down, I can give you the knowledge that you will require to rid the world of Voldemort's foul presence."

Harry nodded, "So, what are you? A ghost?"

Godric shook his head, "For lack of a better way to describe it, you may call me an echo. I left a portion of my consciousness within the very walls of Hogwarts, so that I could always watch out for my Heirs. I have been watching you for a long time, young Harry, and I must say that I am very proud of you so far."

Harry bowed in the dream, and said, "So, let's get started, then."

Godric shook his head, "Not this evening, young cub, but we will begin tomorrow night. I look forward to tutoring you in magic. You have the potential to be an extremely powerful magus, so it will be interesting to see how far you progress."

Harry smiled, "So, you are saying that I will become more powerful?"

Godric laughed heartily, "Of course not. The power is already within you. Its just a matter of teaching you how to use it. Most wizards mistakenly believe that they grow more powerful with age, but that is simply not true. It is the ability of the mind to structure itself that allows more of your power to be used, but you have that power at birth.'

Harry nodded, "Excellent. I was afraid that I would have to wait until I was grown to be able to defeat Voldemort."

Godric shook his head, "No, of course not. Although, if you continue to learn things at only the rate that you have before, it could indeed take that long, but by teaching you the things that you need to know in your dreams, then I will be able to progress your teaching much faster than you would otherwise be able to accomplish."

Harry grinned, "Now, I will really be able to surprise the Death Eaters. They won't know what hit them."

Godric bowed, "For now, I must go, but I will return tomorrow evening to begin your lessons."

Harry returned the bow, "Thank you, Grandfather."

Godric smiled, "Grandfather? I like being called that. Till tomorrow, young cub."

A/N: Sorry about the delay on updating, I've been extremely busy. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long, and it should be longer. This one didn't have much to go into, I just needed it to junction into the next phase. Thanks go out to all my readers and reviewers. Happy reading.


	9. Training Begins

Chapter 9:

Training Begins

The next evening, Harry went to bed early so that he could begin his training with the echo of Godric Gryffindor. Godric appeared to him almost immediately after Harry fell asleep. Harry grinned, "So, what are we going to be doing tonight?"

Godric smiled, "I think that our first order of business is to teach you how to Apparate through Hogwarts' wards. That will make it much easier for you to get back and forth without your identity as the Dark Phoenix being discovered."

Harry's eyes widened and a mischievous grin appeared on his face, "I've always thought that it is impossible to Apparate through the wards."

Godric nodded, "It is. However, the wards can be fooled into believing that you are a house elf, and thus they will not stop you. You just have to learn to channel your power the same way that they do, and the wards won't recognize you as a wizard. Now, let us begin."

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, there were several Death Eater attacks, without retribution from the Dark Phoenix, as Harry kept going to bed early to learn everything that he needed to know from Godric Gryffindor. After teaching Harry how to Apparate through the wards, he began teaching him several very powerful curses that hadn't been used in centuries. Then, Godric progressed into teaching him how to channel the Cruciatus Curse, so that it empowered you instead of harming you. This turned out to be quite easy once you understood it, but exceptionally difficult to understand. Once Harry completed this, he asked the fateful question, "Is it possible to block the Killing Curse?"

Godric shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid not, young cub. The only way to survive the Killing Curse is to have someone die for you, like your mother did for you as a baby."

Harry asked, "What about Voldemort? He survived the curse when it rebounded on him."

Godric nodded, "Very true, but that was his own curse, and the Killing Curse generally loses some of its effectiveness once it is deflected off something. Not to mention the fact that Voldemort is no longer completely human, so the curse doesn't have the same effect on him that it would on normal people."

Harry sighed, "So, he can't be killed by it?"

Godric shrugged, "Who knows? If it was cast by a normal wizard, I would say no, but it is possible that you could do it that way, but I wouldn't recommend it."

"Why?"

Godric replied, "Casting that curse against Voldemort could very well kill you as well. The same could be said if he attempts to kill you that way. That's why he tried to get Dumbledore to do it for him in the Department of Mysteries last year. He's actually afraid of what will happen if he uses it on you."

Harry paused for a few moments and then said, "So, what other ways are there for me to kill him?"

Godric smiled, "You are going to have to defeat him in combat, and then bind him to use what I am going to teach you. It is called a Soul Disbandment. It takes some time, so he will have to be beaten and you have to have his wand to do it."

Harry nodded, "Then, I guess that I need to get busy."

Godric nodded, "Yes, we will begin working on this at our next meeting. For now, you should rest and get actual sleep that doesn't involve training. Besides, the Death Eaters are becoming far too bold for my tastes. It is time to let them feel the wrath of the Heir of Gryffindor."

The next morning, Harry went down to breakfast just as the post owls began delivering the mail. Harry sat down next to his friends as Hermione opened up the Daily Prophet. She gasped, "Oh my goodness."

Ron asked, "What is it, Mione?"

She laid the paper down. The boys and Ginny leaned over it to read.

**Death Eaters Attack Ministry**

__

In a surprise raid last night, the Ministry itself came under fire from the Death Eaters. Aurors guarding the Ministry were able to fight off the attack, but it was not without its casualties. Several Aurors were killed, and many more were injured. It is also rumored that several more Ministry personnel were killed during the raid, but this report is completely unconfirmed as the Ministry refuses to disclose any information regarding the attack, the targets, or the casualties. Minister of Magic Fudge is citing several guidelines of Secrecy Statutes as justification for the refusal on the part of the Ministry to give details of the attack.

Harry slammed his fist down on the table, "I've had about enough of Fudge." Harry leaped up from the Gryffindor table and stomped up to the Head Table and stood right in front of Dumbledore.

Dumbledore looked up at Harry and said, "How may I help you, Harry?"

Harry replied evenly, "I want you to get Fudge here. I'm tired of his idiocy, and I am going to end it."

Snape sneered, "And just how do you propose to do that, Potter?"

Harry matched Snape's sneer with one of his own, and then said maliciously, "I will keep my own counsel to my doings, Severus, and if you speak in my presence again, I will permanently wipe that sneer off your face."

Snape paled for a moment, and then reached for his wand. Before his hand made it completely into his pocket, Harry had struck. He yanked Snape's knife up from his plate, and stabbed it straight through his wand hand. Snape yelped in pain, and Harry's face darkened, "You've used the Cruciatus Curse on me once, Snape. If you ever even act like you are going to draw your wand against me again, I will kill you myself."

Dumbledore sighed, "Harry, do you really think that you are capable of killing someone?"  
Harry returned a level gaze to the Headmaster. He met Dumbledore's eyes and said evenly, "What makes you so certain that I haven't already killed someone, Headmaster? Now, are you going to bring that twit to this school, or do I have to go after him?"

Dumbledore sighed, "I will request that Cornelius come to Hogwarts for a meeting, Mr. Potter. I don't think we will accomplish much, however. Cornelius is a stubborn man."

Harry leaned over the table menacingly, "He won't be after I'm through with him." Then, he turned and swirled away from the table. Snape quietly left the table and headed for the Hospital Wing.

Minerva whispered quietly to Dumbledore, "Do you think it wise to continue to let Harry get away with this kind of behavior?"

Dumbledore shrugged and then said worriedly, "No, Minerva, I don't think it wise, but I think it even more foolish to attempt to do anything about it at this point. I know that you can sense the raw power that radiates from Mr. Potter. If he were to unleash it on this school, the effects would be catastrophic. Never forget that he is the Heir of Gryffindor, and if he so chose, the wards would answer to him before they would to me."

McGonagall sniffed, "I think that you should at least try to talk some sense into him."

Dumbledore shook his head, "Harry doesn't want to hear anything from me except an acceptance of whatever order he gives me, and unfortunately that is exactly what he is going to hear for the time being. I merely dread the day when he gives me an order that I have to refuse."

McGonagall asked, "Why is that?"

Dumbledore replied grimly, "If it comes down to a magical battle between Mr. Potter and myself, I'm not sure that I would win."

McGonagall looked stern, "This is no time to talk foolishness, Albus. You are one of the most powerful wizards of all time, and he is still a boy."

Albus hung his head, "I am not talking foolishness, Minerva. I may be one of the most powerful wizards to ever live, but if I am not mistaken, Harry may well be the most powerful wizard to ever live. From what the texts say, Harry's powers surpass even that of Merlin and Godric."

McGonagall gasped, "Surely, you aren't serious, Albus."

Dumbledore nodded grimly, "I am more serious than I have ever been in my life. If Harry continues down the road he's following, then I fear for the safety of the world. If he falls to the Dark Arts, then we are all doomed."

As Harry was leaving the Great Hall, he noticed Susan Bones standing just outside the entranceway holding a black envelope and crying. Harry stepped over to her and asked, "Susan, are you okay?"

She shook her head, and grabbed Harry in a hug. He wrapped his arms around her, and began making soothing noises, and gently stroked her hair. Then, he said quietly, "What's wrong, Susan? You can talk to me if you want?"

Susan sniffled, and then said, "My Auntie died in the attack on the Ministry."

Harry sucked in a small gasp, "They got to Madam Bones?!"

Susan nodded miserably, and began sobbing more openly. Harry continued to stroke her hair, and make soothing sounds as the two of them stood alone in the corridor. Harry looked up to see Hannah Abbott and several other Hufflepuff girls walk over towards them hesitantly. Harry met Hannah's eyes and nodded. Then, he leaned down and whispered quietly into Susan's ear, "I'm not too good at comforting people, Susan, and I'm not sure what to say to you. So, I'm simply going to make you a promise."

Susan sniffed, "What promise?"

Harry replied grimly, "I promise that they will pay. I'm going to make them regret following Voldemort. I swear it."

Susan shook her head, "No, Harry. I don't want you to do anything where you could get hurt. It's too dangerous."

Harry patted Susan on the back and gently kissed her forehead, "Don't worry. The only people that its dangerous for are the Death Eaters. Now, I think your friends want to talk to you. So, I'm going to go."

Susan nodded, and then called after Harry as he walked down the corridor, "Wait, Harry!"

He turned to look at her, and she bit her lip for a moment, "Where are you going?"

Harry smiled, "To arm myself with the greatest weapon of all. Information."

Susan nodded once again, and then turned around and allowed the Hufflepuffs to surround her.

Harry strode off in the direction of the dungeons to have a little heart to heart with Snape. As Harry neared the dungeons, he heard voices and backed up against a wall. He recognized one of the voices as Malfoy, and logically guessed that the other two must belong to Crabbe and Goyle.

Malfoy said, "Hurry up, you idiots. My father wants the three of us and Snape to meet him in less than an hour. Come on."

Harry quickly cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself since he didn't have his invisibility cloak with him, and followed them down the corridor to Snape's office.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle opened the door, and entered, and Harry slipped in beside them. Snape looked up as they entered, and said, "You're late. Put your robes and masks on, and we will take the Portkey to meet Lucius."

The three nodded, and donned the robes of a Death Eater and then fitted the masks over their faces. Harry decided that this was as far as he was going to let them get. He flicked his wand in the direction of Crabbe and Goyle, who were standing side by side, and said, "Reducto!" The two were blasted back into the wall. Snape and Malfoy immediately drew their wands, but Harry quickly yelled, "Expelliarmus!" Sanpe's wand flew out of his hand quickly followed by Malfoy's. Then, Harry tapped himself on the head, and canceled the Disillusionment Charm on himself.

When, Harry came into view, Snape snarled, "Potter, what do you think you are doing? I'll have you expelled for attacking a teacher."

Harry snorted, "Not this time, Snivellus. I've caught the four of you red-handed in Death Eater robes, and I am well aware of that mark burned into your arm. What I'm interested to know is whether or not our young Malfoy here has the mark burned into his arm? So, let's see."

Malfoy raised his left sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark emblazoned onto his flesh.

Harry clucked disapprovingly, "Well, I had considered sparing your life, Malfoy, but since you've already taken the mark, then I'm afraid that I will have to reconsider."

Snape stepped forward menacingly, but Harry twitch his wand, and said, "Locomotor Mortis." Snape's legs sprang together and he fell forward onto his face. Harry smiled indulgently, "Come now, Snivellus. I can't have you interrupting mine and Malfoy's little duel."

Snape growled, "Do you really expect us to believe you are capable of killing someone in cold blood. You are far too noble for that, Potter."

Harry chuckled darkly, "Oh really, Snivellus. I'm afraid that you are very mistaken, though. The Dark Phoenix is very capable of killing Death Eaters."

Snape snorted, "Do you really expect us to believe that you're the Dark Phoenix, Potter. What fantasy."

Harry pulled the sleeve of his robe up to reveal the Phoenix Mark on his arm, and Snape's eyes widened in fear. He pushed his body back, "Impossible. The Headmaster was assured that you couldn't be the Dark Phoenix."

Harry took a small bow, "Well, that doesn't surprise me. The Headmaster is an old fool. He doesn't have the balls to lead a fight against a true enemy, so it is only fitting that I continue to deceive him." Harry turned to Malfoy, "Now, I believe it is time for us to end this, once and for all." Harry threw Draco's wand back to him, "Now, defend yourself."

Harry assumed a formal dueling position, and waited for Draco to do the same. They both bowed, and then the duel began. Draco proved to be a formidable dueling opponent, but was no match for Harry's innate talent. Harry easily stayed ahead of the curses that Draco hurled at him, and began hitting Draco with smaller annoying hexes. Once it was obvious that Draco was going to be beaten, he attempted to go all out, and screamed, "Avada Kedavra."

Harry easily rolled out of the way of the curse, and responded with a Stunning Spell that caught the weakened and tired Draco completely by surprise. Harry walked over to Draco, and kicked off his mask. Harry sighed to himself, "A pity. You would have been a powerful wizard if you had only chosen the right path."

At that moment Snape dove sideways and scooped up Goyle's wand from the floor, and yelled, "Stupefy!"

Harry easily shifted his stance and said quietly, "Protego." Then, he sent a Disarming Charm right back at Snape. Snape erected a shield, but the spell tore right through it, and Harry ended up with Goyle's wand as well. Harry shook his head, "You should no better than to challenge me with a wand other than your own, Professor. The magic you cast is almost useless that way."

Snape said snidely, "So, are you going to kill us, Potter?"

Harry flicked his wand at Malfoy and uttered a Cutting Curse that sliced right across his throat. Harry then turned back to Snape, as Snape's face drained of all color. Harry said, "Crabbe and Goyle are too stupid to be worth the effort. They will remain as they are. You, on the other hand, I have yet to decide about. If you give me the information I seek, then I will spare your life."

Snape growled, "What do you want to know, Potter?"

Harry replied, "Simple. I want to know who led the attack on the Ministry last night, because I know Voldemort wasn't there, or the Aurros would never have been able to fight them off, and I want to know where you were supposed to be taking your little junior Death Eaters off to this evening?"

Snape took a deep breath, "Bellatrix led the assault on the Ministry last night. It was intended to be a feint to keep the Ministry busy, while Voldemort launched another attack."

Harry nodded, "So, what is the target, tonight?"

Snape shrugged, "I don't know. We were to be told our targets when we took the Portkey to meet Lucius."

"I'm presuming that Albus knows about this, and is prepared?"

Snape nodded, "The Order is here at the castle, and all the Aurors are at the Ministry on high alert. They will be ready to go at a moment's notice once the target is identified."

Harry smiled, "Excellent. Now, tell me where to find Bellatrix Lestrange. I want her head on a platter. The attack this evening will be the perfect cover for me to go."

Snape snarled, "Lestrange stays at the base at 114 Knockturn Alley. She will be there in anticipation of the attack tonight, I am sure."

Harry smiled even more gleefully, "Even more excellent. I will be on my way now." Harry flicked his wand at Severus, and said mildly, "Reducto!" The spell slammed Snape into the wall and knocked him unconscious. Then, Harry flicked his wand at the wall, and left a version of his mark emblazoned on the wall with a message underneath it. Then, one final time he flicked his wand to modify Snape's memory. Then, with an audible pop, Harry was gone.

At the same time, Minister Fudge had entered the Headmaster's office, where Dumbledore, Lupin, McGonagall, and Arthur were waiting for him. Albus rose, "Cornelius, I know that I requested this meeting on behalf of Mr. Potter, but with the imminent attack, I don't know how long we will be able to devote to it."

Fudge waved a hand, "I don't really believe that there will be an attack, Dumbledore. This is just another item in your list of things to panic the wizarding world. The Aurors can handle the threat of You-Know-Who."

A small knock sounded on the door to Dumbledore's office. Lupin answered the door, and Colin Creevey entered the room. He squeaked, "Professor Dumbledore, I can't find Harry. I know you told me to, but I have looked everywhere I can think of."

Dumbledore smiled, "That's okay, Mr. Creevey. We will locate him."

Colin nodded, and departed the room in a hurry. Dumbledore turned to Lupin and asked, "Remus, did you get the new Marauder's Map finished?"

Remus nodded, as he pulled out a roll of parchment from his robes. He tapped it and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." The lines appeared on the page forming a map of the castle. Remus tapped the map again, and said, "Show me Harry Potter." Nothing happened. He tried again. Then, he sighed, "Harry is not in the castle, Albus."

Dumbledore slumped back into his chair, "This isn't good. I only hope that he left of his own accord."

Lupin continued peering at the map, and then said, "Isn't Severus supposed to be gone by now?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, of course. Why?"

Lupin replied, "He's still in the castle, and Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle are in his office."

Dumbledore rose, "We must see to this." The four wizards and McGonagall all left the Headmaster's office and trotted down to the dungeons. There they found Snape, Crabbe, and Goyle heavily wounded, and Malfoy dead with the Phoenix Mark standing out starkly against the back wall.

The five of them could only stare in disbelief at the words etched on the wall in a glowing red fire.

****

No One Is Safe From The Wrath Of The Dark Phoenix.

If You Choose The Dark Path,

Then, You Will Suffer.

Headmaster, You Allowed Students To Become Death Eaters,

Thus Endangering All The Other Students.  
This is an Atrocity That I Will Not Allow.

Crabbe And Goyle Must Be Removed From The School.

They Bear The Dark Mark.

I Have Removed Malfoy, Permanently.

Look For My Mark Again, Soon.

A/N: I'm going to be exceptionally busy for the next three weeks, so I don't know how much time I will be able to devote to writing. It may be as much as two weeks before you get another chapter, but I'm hoping it won't be quite that long. We're a little over halfway through this fic, and I am going to attempt to finish it as quickly as possible. As always, thanks go out to my readers and reviewers. Happy reading.


	10. Voldemort's Assault

Chapter 10:

Voldemort's Assault

Harry reappeared just outside the Death Eater base in Knockturn Alley. He immediately cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, and then crept silently up to a dingy window to look inside. There was little to see inside the abandoned shop except for the small table sitting in the center of the small room. There was also a fireplace set into the wall to be used for Floo connections presumably. Harry stared into the empty room for several minutes until Bellatrix Lestrange walked in from a door in the back. Harry grinned evilly as he realized that Bellatrix was here alone. He whispered to himself, "This is going to be like taking candy from a baby."

Then, Harry stood up and kicked open the door. As the door swung wide, Harry dove through onto the floor to avoid the hexes that Bellatrix immediately threw at the door. She had her wand out as she looked wildly around the room, "Who is it? Who's there?"

Harry spat out mockingly, "Don't tell me that ickle Bellatrix is afraid of the baby wee Potter."

Bellatrix snarled, as she gripped her wand tighter, "You won't be so confident shortly, Potter. You may have me at a disadvantage, but the Dark Lord is going to have you begging for mercy shortly."

Harry laughed, "Are you talking about his pitiful little attack tonight. Dumbledore already knows about that, and is prepared to counter him."

Bellatrix spun at the sound of Harry's voice and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"

It did her little good, because Harry had Apparated to the other side of the room, using her yell to mask the pop of Apparation. He muttered quietly, "Expelliarmus." The jet of light caught Bellatrix in the back, and sent her wand spinning away from her. Harry waved his wand, and said, "Accio wand." Bellatrix made a wild diving grab for her wand as it sped past her, but she missed by scant inches as it zoomed towards Harry. He caught the wand, and then removed the Disillusionment Charm from himself, so that Bellatrix could look him in the eyes.

Harry shook his head in amusement, "To think that you are one of Voldemort's top lieutenants, its absolutely disgraceful. If this is the best that the poor fool can come up with, winning this war is going to be easy for me."

Bellatrix snarled, "You aren't going to defeat the Dark Lord, Potter. He has spies inside the very school that you go to. Even Hogwarts isn't safe for you."

Harry snorted, "Spies, huh? I presume you're talking about Snape and Malfoy. I dealt with those two earlier. Malfoy is dead, and Snape isn't far from it. Not to mention, he will be useless from now on since I modified his memory."

Bellatrix paled, "What did you modify from his memory?"

Harry chuckled, "He had information that I only allow people to have before I kill them."

"What is that?"

"Snape discovered that I am the Dark Phoenix." replied Harry.

Bellatrix laughed haughtily, "You can't be the Dark Phoenix, Potter. The Dark Phoenix has defeated several Death Eaters quite handily, and has escaped detection. He is obviously a powerful wizard, and you are nothing more than a boy with an over inflated opinion of himself."

Harry laughed uproariously at this statement, "You have been listening to Snape haven't you. That fool's opinions of my abilities have always been far less than what I was capable of." Harry pulled up his sleeve, and revealed the Phoenix Mark on his arm, "That should alleviate any doubts you have about my identity. Now, I think it is itme to end you since you know my secret." Harry advanced menacingly on Bellatrix, and then flicked his wand, "Crucio!"

Bellatrix fell screaming in pain. Harry held her under the curse for a few moments, and then let up. He mocked her, "Does that hurt, ickle Bella? Do you want the big bad Phoenix to stop?"

Bellatrix attempted to catch her breath and respond, but Harry hit her with the Cruciatus Curse once again. He sneered at her, "You shouldn't have told me how to do this curse properly, Bella. Now, I am your worst nightmare."

Harry was just about to cast the curse on Bellatrix for a third time, when he was warned by the wards around Hogwarts that the castle was in danger. He swore loudly, "Damn! So Hogwarts was the target for tonight. It seems that your boss has saved your life tonight, Bella. We will meet again." Harry snapped her wand, and then threw the pieces down beside her before Apparating to the castle.

Meanwhile, back at the castle, Dumbledore had taken Crabbe, Goyle, and Snape to the Hospital Wing. While there, the alarms around the school sounded. Cornelius looked around in alarm, "What does that sound mean, Dumbledore?"

Albus replied darkly, "It means that several Dark wizards have crossed the outer wards to enter Hogwarts grounds."

Remus asked immediately, "How many, Albus?"

Dumbledore sighed as he drew his wand, "At least twenty-five. Minerva, go and alert the Aurors to get here as quickly as possible. Apparently, Hogwarts is his target."

Arthur Weasley pointed out, "At least Harry isn't here. You-Know-who can't get him if he isn't here."

Another voice sounded out behind them, "He isn't going to get me even if I am here. I've got a few surprises for Voldemort."

All of the wizards in the room spun around to see Harry standing behind them in the Hospital Wing. Even Dumbledore seemed flabbergasted, "Harry, how did you get here?"

"I Apparated."

Remus blanched, "You can't Apparate in Hogwarts, Harry."

Harry snorted, "You can't. I manage it just fine."

Dumbledore sucked in a deep breath, "How did you accomplish such a thing?"

Harry sneered, "Considering all the things that you have kept from me over the years, old man, do you honestly expect me to tell you any of my secrets?"

Dumbledore sighed, "I suppose not. We'll worry about that later. For now, we must deal with the problem at hand. Voldemort and his followers will be at the castle gates very soon."

Harry gripped his wand, and smiled gleefully, "Yes, I know. Its time to teach some Death Eaters a lesson."

Dumbledore adopted a stern expression, "Harry, I'm afraid that I can't allow you to go out into combat. It would be too dangerous."

The expression on Harry's face went from one of glee to downright fury in less than a second. He stepped toward the Headmaster menacingly, "Allow me?" he screamed, the fury apparent in his voice. "How dare you? You will not be allowing me to do anything, old man. I will do as I please, and you will do nothing to stop me unless you want to suffer dire consequences."

Dumbledore attempted to remain calm in the face of Harry's fury, but his voice betrayed his emotions, "What dire consequences, Harry?"

Harry growled, "If you attempt to stop me, Albus, I will not hesitate to attack you. I will handle Voldemort, and I expect you to stay out of my way."

Dumbledore sighed, "Harry, you aren't ready to face Voldemort. I haven't given you the training you need to be able to handle his powers."

Harry sneered, "Just because you haven't given me the training that I need, old man, doesn't mean that I haven't received it. There are other ways to learn to use your powers. As a matter of fact, I found a teacher that was willing to teach me the things that I wanted to know, instead of the things that he wanted me to know. That was the mistake you made, and now I will do things my way. You are no longer of any consequence."

After that statement, Harry strode from the room with his wand gripped tightly in his hand, and a determined look on his face. Dumbledore looked to Remus and Arthur, "Well, we have little choice, but to follow him into battle." The three of them went and met up with the other members of the Order of the Phoenix in the Entranceway. Dumbledore looked around, but could find no trace of Harry. He sighed, "Everyone, we will soon be going out to face several Death Eaters. The Aurors will be here shortly, so we should be able to hold the castle. However, I must point out that this battle could cost us greatly. We must protect this school and the students in it. Now, let us go forth to do battle."

The members of the Order of the Phoenix charged out with their wands held at the ready to find a force of about forty Death Eaters waiting for them. The Order as one released a volley of Stunning Spells, but they did nothing as they bounced off a powerful shield that had been erected between the two forces of wizards. Voldemort's voice boomed out, "Hold, Dumbledore. I wish to speak before we do battle."

Dumbledore replied stiffly, "What do you want, Tom?"

A tinge of anger was apparent in Voldemort's voice as he replied, "Do not call me that, you Muggle loving fool. I came here to offer you a truce, if you will turn over the Potter boy to me. I have unfinished business with him."

Before Dumbledore could begin to articulate a response, Harry's voice rang out over the area, "Why don't you go to hell, Tom. I am not a pawn for you and Dumbledore to use. If you have conditions for surrender, then you should address them to me. I am the Master of this castle, now."

Suddenly, Harry appeared as he whipped off his father's invisibility cloak. He looked Voldemort right in the eyes, and sneered, "Unless, of course, you are too frightened of the wee Potter brat that you don't wish to speak to me face to face."

Voldemort raged, "How dare you, boy?" Voldemort flicked his wand, "Crucio!" The spell hit Harry, but it didn't seem to do anything, as Harry stood there smiling at Voldemort.

Then, Harry snorted, "Do you really expect that pitiful of a curse to work on me, Tom? I am your worst nightmare, and I am about to prove it in front of all your followers."

Harry brought his wand over his head in a long whipping stab, and shouted, "Naturam Expellas Fervor!" A rush of wind shattered the shield that Voldemort had erected and sent the Death Eaters tumbling with the sheer force of it. Then, Harry stabbed his wand directly at Voldemort and screamed, "Crucio!"

Voldemort fell writhing to the ground in pain, as the host of surrounding witches and wizards looked on in utter disbelief. Several Death Eaters recovered from the wind and hurled spells at Harry. He removed the Cruciatus Curse form Voldemort to block the curses, and Voldemort immediately Portkeyed away. His Death Eaters quickly followed him. Harry turned around to confront the Order, and stood before them as they all continued to stare at him in utter disbelief. Even the normally unshakeable Albus Dumbledore appear to be too shocked to utter even the smallest sound.

A/N: sorry for the atrocious delay in getting this out. My schedule has clamed down somewhat, so I should have out the next chapter within two weeks. There's only a few more to go, but the end should be a wild ride. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed my work. I enjoy reading the reviews as always. Happy reading.


	11. Dumbledore's Dilemma

Chapter 11:

Dumbledore's Dilemma

After the Death Eaters fled, a silence settled over the castle. Dumbledore finally stepped forward hesitantly, "Harry? How did you..?" Then, his voice broke and Harry chuckled darkly.

Then, he turned and tapped his want to his throat, "Sonorus. It seems that my time of hiding has past. So I ask you to welcome the Heir of Gryffindor back to his home. I also ask you to greet The Dark Phoenix, so I will now take a bow."

Harry then made his way directly towards the doors to enter the castle, and everyone scurried out of his way as he strode across the front lawn of Hogwarts.

Once he was inside, Dumbledore raised his voice, "Order, to my office, now."

Unnoticed during this exchange was the portly figure of the Minister of Magic watching with apparent glee as he took off down a corridor to take the Floo back to his office. He thought to himself, "Now, I have that little brat right where I want him."

Dumbledore made his way to his office with the senior members of the Order following him. They found Harry seated at the chair behind the Headmaster's desk in a relaxed state. Dumbledore swallowed visibly before saying, "Harry, I must ask you to remove yourself from my office. The Order has much to discuss."

Harry opened his eyes and snorted, "Then you can have the meeting in my presence, old man. This is my castle, and my office now. Not to mention, Grimmauld Place is mine as well. So, unless you would like to search for a new place to have your precious Order meetings, then I will be privy to anything that occurs in them."

Dumbledore steeled himself before replying, "I'm afraid that I can not allow that, Harry."

Harry replied disdainfully, "You don't have a choice, old man. I control the wards of this castle, now. If you persist in your attempts to hinder me, I will have them remove you from the castle permanently."

Remus looked at Harry sadly, "What happened to you, Harry?"

Harry graced Remus with a cold stare, "It's really quite simple, Remus. I have had almost everything in my life that I thought was good ripped away from me because of the stupidity of Albus Dumbledore. I have no intention of allowing that state of affairs to continue. I am going to finish things between Voldemort and I, and then I am going to make some serious changes to the wizarding world. Far too long has it been controlled by the old families that think that being pureblooded somehow makes you better than anyone else. It is time that the Muggleborns run the wizarding world, and that is how things will be after I deal with Voldemort if I have to kill have the purebloods to accomplish it."

Arthur shook his head, "Harry, if you take things that far, then you will be no better than Voldemort."

Harry shrugged, "That matters little to me at this point. Once I have changed the wizarding world for the better, I fully intend to leave it. I have no desire to remain in a world that allows people like Voldemort to exist, simply because they were too stupid to destroy him before he became such a threat."

Moody growled, "That's not quite fair, Potter. No one could have known that a former Head Boy would have sunk so far into the Dark Arts."

Harry laughed uproariously, "Do you really believe that, Alastor? Your illustrious leader knew that Tom opened the Chamber of Secrets when he was a student here at Hogwarts, but he let him continue his descent into the Dark Arts because he felt that the boy deserved a second chance."

The rest of the Order turned to look at Albus in horror at this statement. Minerva said with her voice trembling, "Please, Albus, tell me that isn't true."

Dumbledore's shoulders slumped, "I am afraid that it is, Minerva. I knew the road that Tom was following, but I allowed him to continue even though I could have stopped him at the time. I thought that he would eventually see the error of his ways."

Harry replied to this statement with contempt dripping from his voice, "In other words, old man, you were a fool, and now the world is paying for your stupidity. As I said before, I have no intention of letting that state of affairs continue. First on the agenda of fixing your mistakes is finding a new Potions Master. Snape will not be returning to this school as a Professor. As soon as he is recovered from his injuries, he will have twenty four hours to gather his things and leave the castle."

Dumbledore shook his head, "I can't allow that, Harry."

Harry sighed, "What part of the fact that you have no choice in the matter do you not understand? I have control of all the castle wards. If Snape is not gone by the deadline that I have just given you, then the consequences will be most unpleasant. You have the same amount of time to be rid of Crabbe and Goyle. The other Slytherins I will reserve judgment about until I have soon proof of their loyalties one way or the other. If they prove to be junior Death Eaters, though, I will not hesitate to cast them out of the castle. If they turn out to be true Death Eaters like our former Mr. Malfoy, then I will kill them."

Tonks asked, "Did you kill Malfoy?"

Harry shrugged, "Of course. Did you expect anything less?"

At that moment, several Aurors stepped into the office. Harry looked at them, and asked, "What can I do for you, Dawlish?"

Dawlish replied, "I am here at the behest of the Minister of Magic to inform you, Mr. Potter that you are under arrest for the use of an Unforgivable Curse in the presence of multiple witnesses, and for the murder of Draco Malfoy."

Harry chuckled, "Very well, you have performed your duty. You may return to the Ministry now, Dawlish."

Dawlish appeared confused for a moment, and then said, "I am afraid that you do not understand, Mr. Potter. You are under arrest. We are here to take you into custody."

Harry chuckled once more, "I understand what you said and what you meant perfectly, Dawlish. However, I have no intention of going anywhere with you, and attempting to force me to leave this castle against my will, will only cause you harm."

One of the Aurors asked incredulously, "Are you threatening us?"

Harry laughed outright, "Nothing of the sort. I am merely pointing out that I am the Heir of Gryffindor, and that to attempt to harm me on the grounds of Hogwarts would cause the wards to react in a way that would be most unpleasant for you. You may tell Cornelius that he can send word of my trial date by owl, and I will show up for it, but I have no intention of being detained by the Ministry until a trial before the Wizengamot is set."

Dawlish looked to Dumbledore and asked, "Is he serious, sir?"

Dumbledore sighed, "I am afraid that young Mr. Potter is very serious, Dawlish. I would suggest that you do as he says."

Dawlish nodded and signaled for the other Aurors to follow him from the room.

Remus turned to Harry as soon as they were gone, "Harry, you can not continue to break the law. If you do, they will put you in Azkaban."

Harry chuckled, and then stood, "I will continue to do as I please, Remus, and I dare anyone to oppose me. I will go to this farce of a trial, where I will make Fudge look like a fool. Then, I will be acquitted, and if Fudge continues to oppose me after that, I will simply kill him, and be done with it."

Dumbledore rose and drew his wand. He said in a saddened tone, "I feared that this day would come. I am sorry, Harry, for what I must do." Then, Dumbledore whipped his wand around and cast a curse at Harry. Or more accurately, at where Harry was. As soon as the jet of light left Dumbledore's wand, Harry disappeared. The curse impacted the wall, and dissipated, and then Dumbledore fell to the ground writhing in pain.

Harry's voice rang out ominously in the room, "That wasn't very wise, old man. You know that I control the wards, and that they will protect me within the castle. I wouldn't suggest attacking me again. Now, the rest of you can have your precious Order meeting. I have some Death Eaters to do business with."

Harry Apparated to where the Death Eaters had collected after the attack. The magical signature of his Cruciatus Curse against Bellatrix allowing him to find them quite easily. He cast an invisibility charm on himself and crept into the chamber where they were all lying prostrate before the Dark Lord.

Voldemort appeared to be highly agitated as he paced back and forth in front of his minions. Finally, he spoke, "Lucius, where were Severus, and your son during the battle?"

Lucius spoke, his voice trembling in fear of his master, "I do not know, My Lord. They did not arrive at the meeting place before the attack. I can only assume that Potter must have discovered them."

"Crucio!" Lucius writhed and screamed under the curse from Voldemort. Voldemort released the curse and then said, "What do you mean by that? Are you suggesting that Potter could have overcome both your son and Severus along with Crabbe and Goyle's son."

Lucius gulped, "Yes, My Lord, after his display today, I believe that to be the case."

Voldemort snarled, "This displeases me. I would almost think that you feared Potter."

Lucius did not reply, but Bellatrix did, "Master, I have distressing news concerning Potter."

Voldemort turned to his other chief Lieutenant, "What do you have to report, Bella?"

Bellatrix said softly, "Potter discovered our base in Knockturn Alley from Snape. Apparently Lucius guessed correctly, My Lord. Potter did indeed discover Snape and defeat him. Potter also revealed to me that he was the Dark Phoenix."

Voldemort laughed, "Potter can not be the Dark Phoenix, Bella. Only one with knowledge of the Dark Arts could cast such marks into the sky. That muggle loving fool Dumbledore would never allow his precious Golden Boy to delve into the Dark Arts. It was your own foolishness, Bella, that allowed Potter to learn the Cruciatus Curse."

Bella shook her head, "My Lord, Potter showed me his forearm. He has the mark of the Dark Phoenix burned into his arm, just like our own Dark Marks.

Voldemort sucked in a breath in fury. Harry at this point decided to have a little fun with the Death Eaters. He sent a burst of dazzling light into the room that blinded them all. Then, he cast the Killing Curse indiscriminately around the room taking down several Darth Eaters, and then sent his mark to be emblazoned with a message on the wall. Then, he Apparated away.

Once the light had cleared, Voldemort roared, "What happened?"

Lucius pointed towards the wall behind Voldemmort, and said, "It appears, My Lord that Potter was here."

Voldemort spun around to find the image of the Dark Phoenix on the wall with a simple question underneath it.

****

Are you scared yet, Tom?

Potter

The Death Eaters quickly discovered that six of their brethren had fell victim to the Killing Curse in that attack. Voldemort snarled, "I want Potter found, and I want him brought to me alive. Now, get out of my sight, you weak-willed pathetic bags of slime."

Harry chuckled as he watched Voldemort's reaction through the viewing charm that he had left behind. Then, he proceeded to march up to Gryffindor Tower to take a nap.


	12. Harry's Trial

Chapter 12:

Harry's Trial

That night, Godric appeared to him in his dreams. He said, "Harry, I am beginning to worry about you. Some of the things that you did and said today concern me."

Harry shrugged, "Necessity, Grandfather. I have to let them know that I am serious, and that I will do whatever is necessary to rid the world of Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

Godric sighed, "Just don't go too far, Harry. It is difficult to turn back from that path once you journey down it."

Harry snorted, "For normal people I am sure that it is. However, I am hardly normal. I will not stop until I have hunted down and killed Voldemort and every last one of the Death Eaters. Then, from there I will not stop until I have overturned the Ministry and inserted Muggleborns or unprejudiced purebloods like the Weasleys into power. The racial minded purebloods will rule the wizarding world no longer."

Godric nodded, "Very well, cub. Now, let us begin the preparations for the ritual."

The two began to practice, and continue with the instruction of how to do the Soul Disbandment on Voldemort.

The next morning, Harry went down to breakfast and found that he was on the receiving end of stares from basically every student in Hogwarts. Harry raised his eyebrows for a moment, then scowled. When no one looked away after that Harry growled, "What?"

Once Harry spoke the spell seemed to have been broken, and everyone looked to their own plates, and continued eating. Harry walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Neville and Ginny. Neither said anything to him, but each nodded and gave him a slight smile.

Hermione and Ron came down a few moments later, just as the post owls were arriving. A large tawny landed in front of Harry and delivered an envelope bearing the Ministry's seal upon it.

Hermione looked at it curiously as Harry untied it from the owl. She asked, "Why is the Ministry sending you something, Harry?"

Harry grunted, "I expect that it's a notification of my trial date."

Ron's eyes narrowed, "Trial for what?"

Harry chuckled, "For the use of an Unforgivable and the murder of Draco Malfoy."

Neville sucked in a breath and threw a quick glance over to the Slytherin table, "You killed Draco?"

Harry shrugged, "He had taken the Dark Mark."

Hermione's mouth dropped open. Ron looked disgusted, "They're giving you a trial for that?"

Harry nodded, "That's what the Aurors that tried to come arrest me last night said anyway."

Ginny echoed, "Aurors?"

Hermione asked, "Why didn't they take you away if they came to arrest you?"

Harry chuckled again at the memory of the look on Dawlish's face the night before, "Let's just say that I convinced them that it would not be good for any future plans they might be intending to make to attempt to take me by force. I made it quite clear that I wasn't going to come quietly."

Hermione said severely, "Harry, you can't continue to irritate the Ministry. They could expel you or put you into Azkaban."

Harry shook his head, "You will never learn will you, Hermione? I will do as I please and the Ministry will like it, or I will treat them the same way I do Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

Here, Harry paused, and then said in an almost offhand manner, "Oh, by the way, Snape has been sacked as well."

No one even seemed to pay attention to this remark until Ron spit out his pumpkin juice as what Harry said finally caught up to him, "Snape's gone?"

Harry grinned, "Caught that did you? Yes, Snape is gone. Well, actually he is still technically in the castle, since I gave Dumbledore twenty four hours from the time he recuperates to get rid of him. He has the same timetable for Crabbe and Goyle as well considering they were with Malfoy and Snape last night."

Hermione's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean recuperate?"

Harry shrugged, "I might have been a little rough with him when I was interrogating him last night."

Ron could barely keep the glee off his face as he beamed, "How rough is a little rough, Harry?"

Harry shrugged, "He was unconscious after I left him."

Neville closed his eyes and smiled, "I wish I could have been there for that."

Dumbledore chose that moment to come down the row between the tables to stand in front of Harry. Harry looked up at him and said with barely veiled contempt, "Well?"

Dumbledore sighed, "I have been informed of your trial date, Mr. Potter." The students around him shivered. None of them had ever heard the normally jovial Headmaster sound so forbidding.

Harry shrugged, "I'm assuming that is what I'm holding right here." He showed the unopened envelope to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's mouth drew thin, "Don't you think that you should open it."

Harry shook his head, "Not really. I'm sure I already know what it says."

Dumbledore replied, "I highly doubt that, Mr. Potter, since I happen to know when your trial date has been set, and I found it highly surprising."

Harry chuckled, "I don't doubt that, but I, unlike you, I have no doubts about the Ministry's efficiency when Fudge is highly desperate to imprison me so that I don't bring him down. So, it comes as no surprise to me that they scheduled my trial for tomorrow. I'm sure if Fudge had completely had his way, and Voldemort hadn't sent an attack against the Ministry the other day, then my trial would have been this afternoon."

Dumbledore recoiled, "You do not seem to be taking this seriously enough, Mr. Potter. You do know that you will be convicted tomorrow, and be sentenced to Azkaban."

At this Harry's chuckled turned into an outright laugh, "I highly doubt that. The Wizengamot may be foolish, but they are anything but stupid. I will be acquitted, and by the end of tomorrow, they will be looking for a new Minister of Magic, for I will finish Fudge. His hours are now numbered. I might have been willing to let him off, but after this, I think not."

Dumbledore turned without speaking again, and walked rapidly away from Harry, as tears sprang to his eyes. He muttered to himself, "How could things have went so terribly wrong?"

Hermione berated Harry, "Harry, you shouldn't show such disrespect to the Headmaster."

Harry snorted, "I'll start showing respect to that old fool when he decides to earn it. Until then I will continue just as things are."

Hermione hissed, "Harry, Dumbledore could expel you!"

Harry laughed, "I think not. This is my school now, and I am the only one that can decide who gets thrown out."

Hermione's eyes narrowed, "What does that mean?"

Harry smiled evilly, "Oh, didn't I tell you? I am the Heir of Gryffindor, and as such the wards of this castle answer to me. No one can harm me inside the walls of this castle now."

Ginny breathed out, "The Heir of Gryffindor?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean the wards of the castle answer to you?"

"Exactly what I said, Mione. The wards are under my control. If I want someone ejected from the castle, then they will leave or they will suffer the consequences."

Neville asked, "What consequences?"

Harry smirked, "Let's just say that remaining within the wards when I don't want you here will be extremely painful for anyone stupid enough to do so."

Hermione asked, "If that were possible, why hasn't the Headmaster used the wards that way before?"

Harry snorted, "The wards were never completely under his control. They only nominally answer to the Headmaster of the school, and only do that if the Heir of Gryffindor is not present to exercise control over them. So, since I have entered the castle, the wards have not answered to Dumbledore at all, but I couldn't command them either, because I didn't know how, or even that I could. That is one of the main reasons that Dumbledore has went to such an extreme to make sure that I knew nothing of my family heritage. If I had known sooner, then I could have already defied him, and refused to return to the Dursley's long before this."

Hermione appeared as if she was going to ask another question, but Harry cut her off, "I don't have time for this. I need to rest if I am going to be prepared to deal with all the consummate fools that are on the Wizengamot tomorrow." With that Harry stood and exited the Great Hall, and he was not seen by anyone for the rest of the day.

The next morning, Harry arrived in the Headmaster's office in his dress robes. Dumbledore looked him over, and asked, "Why have you come here, Mr. Potter?"

Harry snorted, "I would presume that would be obvious. If I enter the Ministry unescorted, I expect that the Aurors are under orders from Fudge to attack first and ask questions later. However, if I arrive with the Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot, then I can hardly be questioned prior to the trial."

Dumbledore nodded, "A prudent decision. Shall we go then, Mr. Potter?"

Harry shrugged, "Whenever, you are ready."

Dumbledore lifted the Portkey and held it out for Harry to grab. Harry shook his head, "No, thank you. Just let me know what the destination is, and I will Apparate beside you."

Dumbledore sighed, "Do you trust me so little?"

Harry snorted once again, "I don't trust you at all, old man. I would think that would have been apparent by now. If I trusted you, then the Dark Phoenix would have never been brought into being."

Dumbledore replied wearily, "The Portkey will drop me directly into the entrance foyer."

Harry nodded, "Very well. As soon as you activate the Portkey, I will follow."

Dumbledore merely nodded in reply and tapped the Portkey with his wand. He felt the customary tug behind his navel and was transported directly into the Ministry. A moment later with a small pop, Harry appeared beside him. The two of them walked toward the check in desk, and the guard on duty said dully, "If you will just hand over your wand.."

Harry interrupted him, "I didn't bring my wand with me, since I have no intention of letting that arrogant bastard that happens to be Minister of Magic confiscate it."

The guard and several others around the room almost jumped in surprise at the vehemence behind Harry's words. The guard gulped, "Very well, Mr. Potter. If you will proceed on your way, then." He nodded to Dumbledore, "Headmaster."

Dumbledore and Harry walked over to the lifts and sank down toward the ninth floor, where they proceeded to walk down to courtroom ten. Dumbledore walked forward and behind the bench to take his seat as Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot. The rest of the wizarding high court were already seated and waiting. Harry glanced around and saw that the only chair was the one with shackles on it, and decided to do something about that. He stalked over to the nearest Auror, and before the man could so much as twitch, Harry snatched his wand out of his hands, conjured himself an extremely comfortable looking recliner, and then handed the Auror's wand back to him. Then, Harry casually stepped over and dropped into the recliner and leaned back in it with his feet propped up.

Madam Bones' voice rose in a fury, "That is quite unacceptable, Mr. Potter. You will sit in the chair that we provided for you. There is a level of decorum that must be maintained."

Harry chuckled, "No, Amelia, there is a level of decorum that you think needs to be maintained. I am here to inform this court that the traditions of the wizarding world are about to be torn down around your ears. So, I suggest you get on with this farce."

Madam Bones spluttered indignantly until Dumbledore laid a hand on her arm and shook his head. Then, he spoke, "Well, then I suppose we should begin.""

Fudge spoke up then, "The accused is Harry James Potter, and his inquisitor will be.."

Harry interrupted the Minister snidely, "I know who the fuck everyone is, you pompous, arrogant twit. I don't need introductions or a play by play, so skip the preliminaries and get this over with."

Fudge turned red with rage, "I will not be spoken to in that way, Potter."

Yet, again he was cut off, "I will speak to you in any manner that I please, Cornelius. Since today is your last day as the Minister of Magic, then it is unlikely that you will be able to do anything about it."

Dumbledore cleared his throat, "Is that a threat, Mr. Potter?"

Harry yawned, "Depends on what you clarify as a threat. If you are asking if it is a threat to his political power, yes. If you are asking if I'm threatening his life, then the answer would be no. I somehow doubt Cornelius is significant enough to bother killing."

The entire Wizengamot gasped as Fudge purpled in anger. He opened his mouth, but a slicing motion of Dumbledore's hand cut him off, "That will be enough, Cornelius. We are here to conduct a trial, not for you and Mr. Potter to trade insults. Mr. Potter, you know the charges made against you, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty."

Fudge spluttered once again, "What do you mean, not guilty, Potter? You killed young Mr. Malfoy, and…"

Once again, Cornelius found himself being cut off, "Prove it."

Madam Bones leaned forward, "What do you mean by that, Mr. Potter?"

"Simply what I said. I would like to see him prove that I murdered Draco Malfoy. From what I understand of the facts, there are no witnesses, not to mention the fact that Malfoy possessed the Dark Mark, so I would like to see him bring forth any kind of physical proof. I can guarantee there is none."

Dumbledore steepled his fingers together, "Mr. Potter, are you the Dark Phoenix?"

Harry replied matter of factly, "Of course."

Fudge leaned forward and grinned maniacally, "Then that brings several other factors into play. The murder of Delores Umbridge, the destruction of Malfoy Manor and Umbridge estate, not to mention the murder of numerous other wizards."

Harry laughed, "I hardly think so, Cornelius. You don't have a leg to stand on with those accusations. Malfoy Manor was blown up by one of Lucius' own creations, so that can hardly be labeled as my fault. I went to Umbridge's estate to teach her a lesson, not kill her. The stupid bitch blew her home up with her in it in an attempt to finish me off, since she failed to do so last year with the Dementors and that damned Blood Quill, and the other Death Eaters that I actually have killed were attempting to kill me, so it was only natural to defend myself with extreme force. If your investigators are even remotely competent then they have discovered that none of the Death Eaters that have died at the hands of the Dark Phoenix were killed with any kind of Dark Magic."

Madam Bones asked grimly, "Mr. Potter, what do you mean by that?"

Harry paused, and then with a quizzical look on his face replied, "Mean by what?"

"You said that Umbridge was trying to finish you off after using Dementors and a Blood Quill."

Harry nodded, "Of course. Dumbass's Senior Undersecretary was the one who sent Dementors after me in Little Whinging before my fifth year. She also kept me in detention most of last year, and made me use a Blood Quill to write the phrase 'I will not tell lies' over and over again."

Madam Bones stilled as she gave Fudge a hard stare, "Is this true, Cornelius?"

Fudge did not return her look, but Dumbledore nodded for the Minister of Magic, "Yes, Madam Bones, I'm afraid that it is. Harry has the scar on his hand to prove it."

Fudge made a dismissive gesture, "The fact remains despite all of Potter's useless prattle is that he used an Unforgivable Curse in front of witnesses. That alone is enough to guarantee him a life sentence in Azkaban."

Harry chuckled again, "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to pull the wheels off your little wagon once again, fool. I am yet again, guiltless according to the law. The law states that the Unforgivable Curses may not be used against another human being or magical creature that falls in under the Being division in the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures. Voldemort does not fall under that heading."

Several members of the Wizengamot gasped at the use of the Dark Lord's name, and most of the rest shuddered. Harry snorted, "Grow up. If you will check your guidelines, since Voldemort spent roughly thirteen years as little more than a wraith, and then returned to a body that was created through a dark ritual, he is now classified under the Spirit division of the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures, and as such is not protected by law from the use of the Unforgivables. Hence, using the Cruciatus Curse on Voldemort was perfectly permissible."

Most of the Wizengamot gaped at Harry for at least a full minute, before Madam Bones cleared her throat, "Well, I believe that we have heard all that we need to. It is time to vote on Mr. Potter's fate. All that see guilt, raise your hands." Cornelius and three other members raised their hands. Madam Bones nodded, "All for acquittal?" The rest of the hands went up. Then, Madam Bones banged her gavel onto the desktop, "Defendant cleared of all charges." She stood, "I believe that settles things for today."

Harry shook his head, "Not quite, Madam Bones. Not quite." Harry leaped from his chair, and took two running steps before leaping over the bench and tackling Fudge. He stepped down on Fudge's right arm, as he went for his wand. The bone breaking could be heard over the entire courtroom, Harry yanked Fudge's left arm up, and said, "It seems our precious Minister of Magic has been keeping a little secret." Then, Harry slid down the sleeves of Fudge's robes to reveal the Dark Mark burnt into his arm.

A/N: Sorry about the ridiculously long time that I have taken in updating. For those of you that haven't emailed me about it, then you should know that my schedule is nuts. It seems to be evening out again, so I should hopefully be able to keep a reasonable pace on posts until the story is finished. Hopefully, I should have Chapter thirteen out in a week, but don't freak if its two. Happy reading.


	13. Susan's Relief

Chapter 13:

Susan's Relief

The entire courtroom full of witches and wizards sat in stunned silence as they looked at the Dark Mark burned onto Cornelius' arm. Finally, Dumbledore spoke, "How long have you known that Cornelius had the Dark Mark?"

Harry smiled ferally, "Since the day he was in your office with Umbridge and Weasley."

Dumbledore gave Harry a steely look, "And why didn't you see fit to inform me of that?"

Harry replied, "Well, you know how it is, Dumbledore. You have seemed to enjoy keeping information that I needed from me my entire life, I only felt that it was prudent to return the favor."

Dumbledore's gaze went very cold, and he said, "I see. I suppose that is how things will remain between us."

Harry shrugged, "That is entirely up to you, old man. You were the one that destroyed the trust I once held for you. Its entirely up to you to repair it."

Then, Harry dropped Cornelius' arm, and reached down to take his wand from him. He tossed the wand to the nearest Auror, and then did a back flip to land back on the floor. He bowed mockingly to the Wizengamot, and then turned on his heel, and strode defiantly from the room.

Madam Bones and Dumbledore gave the Aurors in the room their instructions, and then proceeded out of the courtroom. As Amelia exited the courtroom, a hand landed on her shoulder. She spun drawing her wand in the process, only to have it snatched from her hand. Harry smiled easily, and said, "Calm down. I only wanted to talk to you for a second."

Madam Bones stilled her breathing as Harry handed her wand back to her. Then, she asked, "What would you like to speak to me about, Mr. Potter?"

Harry answered, "I was wondering why Susan was sent a letter stating that you had perished in the attack when you're quite obviously alive."

Amelia looked stricken for a moment before speaking, "Are you serious? I knew that several notices went out in error for people that weren't accounted for quickly enough, but I had no idea that I was one of them. I've got to send an owl to Susan right away."

Harry shook his head, "Don't bother. I'm returning to Hogwarts in just a few minutes. I would be happy to take her the good news."

Madam Bones nodded, "I will send her an owl as well. That way she will know for sure."

Harry bowed lightly, "As you wish. I will take my leave of you now." Then, Harry turned and walked down the corridor, popping out of existence, and reappearing at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore stepped up beside Madam Bones and sighed, then he said, "I am afraid that we have unleashed another demon upon the world."

Madam Bones looked askance at Dumbledore before asking, "What do you mean by that?"

Dumbledore replied, "Harry was guilty of everything that he was just charged with, not to mention a few more things."

Madam Bones narrowed her eyes at Dumbledore, "Then, why didn't you push for him to be convicted if you knew he was guilty."

Dumbledore replied gravely, "Because right now, Harry is our only hope of destroying Voldemort once and for all. Unfortunately for the rest of us, he may only destroy Voldemort to take his place."

"What do you mean by that?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath to compose himself, "Harry has been falling farther and farther from what I always perceived him to be. He is dead set on destroying Voldemort, and is willing to go to any length to do it. After that he will turn his sights on the Ministry. He has very strong opinions about what is wrong with our society, and he is determined to change it."

Madam Bones wondered aloud, "Would changing our society be so bad? There are numerous things wrong with it. If there weren't then people like Voldemort could never gain the power that he did."

Dumbledore shrugged, "The changes that Harry proposes aren't bad at all. They would actually benefit society a great deal. It's the lengths that Harry is willing to go to accomplish his goals that worries me."

"How far is he willing to go?" questioned Amelia.

"I have heard him say that he will kill half the purebloods in the world if that is what is required. I have no doubt that he means it. I fear at this point we are merely trading one conqueror for another."

Meanwhile, back at Hogwarts, Harry used the wards to locate Susan Bones, and then he Apparated directly behind her. Silently, he stepped forward and then slid his hands over Susan's eyes. With a smile on his face, he said, "Guess who?"

Susan chuckled lightly, "What is it, Harry?"

Harry stepped forward and casually draped an arm over Susan's shoulders, and said, "Nothing much, but you'll never believe who I just saw at my trial."

Susan asked, "Who was that?"

Harry replied easily enough, "Madam Bones."

Susan's expression grew cold, "That is not funny, Harry." A few tears sprang to her eyes.

Harry shrugged, "It wasn't intended to be funny, Susan. Your aunt really is alive. The notice that was sent to you after the attack on the Ministry was a mistake, and they have been so busy with trying to get everything reorganized that Amelia had no idea that you thought she was dead."

Hope began to shine in Susan's eyes, "Do you really mean it? Auntie is really alive."

Harry nodded, "Would I lie?"

Susan shook her head and then grabbed Harry in a hug that would do Molly Weasley proud. Then, she began to sob uncontrollably with joy. Harry stoked her hair and then Apparated them to the Room of Requirement, where he sat them down on a couch, and continued to stroke Susan's hair while she sobbed. Once she was through crying, Susan looked around, and asked, "Where are we?"

"The Room of Requirement. I didn't think you wanted to make a spectacle of yourself in the corridor, so I brought us here."

Susan asked, "How did you bring us here? I wasn't even aware of moving."

Harry shook his head, "You didn't move. I Apparated us directly here."

Susan laughed, "That's funny, Harry. You know you can't Apparate in Hogwarts."

Harry grinned, "Most people can't. I don't seem to have a problem with it. I suppose it could have something to do with the fact that I am the Heir of Gryffindor."

Susan looked at him in amazement, "You're the Heir of Gryffindor?"

Harry nodded, and said, "Yeah, and here people thought I was just the Boy-Who-Lived."

Susan shook her head, "You've never been the Boy-Who-Lived to me. I like Harry. Just Harry."

That statement caused Harry to smile, and the two of them settled onto the couch to talk. After awhile, things began to heat up, and directly the two of them were kissing. That led to other things, and soon clothing was flying about the room. The two of them were heatedly making love, when the Headmaster entered the Room of Requirement.

Dumbledore paused and stared at the two teenagers intertwined bodies in surprise, before finally finding his voice, "Potter, I am afraid that I must speak with you."

Susan attempted to cover herself in an effort at modesty. However, Harry felt no such inhibitions. He stood up and said challengingly, "Can you not see that I am busy at the moment old man. I don't barge into your quarters and interrupt you when you're fucking that old bat Minnie. So, I suggest you run along and I will grace you with my presence when I am ready to speak to you. It's not like I don't already know what you want, so off with you."

Given the fact that they were in Hogwarts, Dumbledore had little choice but to acquiesce and then leave the room.

Harry then turned his gaze hungrily back to Susan's barely covered form, and said, "So, where were we?"

Susan was looking at him in amazement. She finally said, "I can't believe you spoke to the Headmaster that way."

Harry shrugged, "That pompous old fool deserved it. Now, do you really want to talk about cranky old men right now, or would you like to continue what we were doing?"

Susan looked contemplative for a moment, and then grinned, "Come here and finish fucking me then, Mr. Potter."

A/N: It seems that my schedule is determined to drive me to an early grave. I wouldn't expect chapter fourteen for at least another two weeks, but I will do my best. Chapter fourteen will begin setting up the final confrontation, and will involve a duel between Harry and Lucius Malfoy, finally. The story will wrap up pretty quickly from here. Three more chapters at most. I may squeeze it into two, but I'm not sure how it will shape up. Happy reading.


	14. Lucius Meets His End

Chapter 14:

Lucius Meets His End

Once Harry and Susan were finished with their lovemaking, they lay in each other's arms until Susan drifted off to sleep. Then, Harry dressed and Apparated directly into the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore looked up from his desk, and said, "I thank you for coming, Mr. Potter."

Harry sneered, "Whatever. Now, get on with your supposed concerns, for I know that is why you wanted to speak with me."

Dumbledore sighed, "Have I really handled things that badly? Do I honestly deserve this attitude from you, Harry? I have always had the best of intentions."

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions, old man. The fact remains that you failed miserably when it came to protecting me. You were more concerned with keeping an intact little weapon than with whether or not I was happy, and that was your downfall. You created the perfect weapon, but unfortunately for you it wasn't one that agreed with your point of view. Now, you're upset about it, and are whining like a ten year old girl over a dead cat."

Dumbledore sighed once again, "I had hoped that you could put this behind you, and the two of us could begin to work together against Voldemort."

"I don't need your help to handle Riddle. I will finish him, and the rest of his followers. Then, I will deal with the Ministry. Once, I have put the people I think need to be running the wizarding world into power, I will be leaving forever."

Dumbledore mused, "Surely, you don't seriously intend to leave the wizarding world, Mr. Potter."

Harry chuckled darkly, "I can assure you, that is exactly what I intend. My descendents will be trained to do things the way of the Potters, and will not be subjected to the wizarding world as it exists today. We will always be around to ensure that no one like Voldemort is allowed to rise again because some old fool like you decides to give them a second chance. Now, if you will excuse me, I have Death Eaters to torment."

Then, Harry disappeared from the room. Dumbledore dropped his head into his hands and mumbled, "What have I done?"

After the meeting that Harry disrupted, Voldemort had sent his Death Eaters to patrol the edges of the wards at Hogwarts in an attempt to lure Harry off the grounds. However, Harry knew of this, and decided to have a little fun with them. He Apparated to different points and observed which Death Eaters were where. The lower ranking ones he merely killed without a warning.

Then, he came across none other than Lucius Malfoy. Harry tossed a rock to get Lucius' attention and then he laughed at him. Lucius spun and fired off a curse, which Harry easily deflected. Harry laughed some more, "Surely you can do better than that. Your pathetic excuse for a son put up a better fight than that before I slit his throat."

Lucius growled and fired several more curses at Harry, all of which were easily dodged or blocked. Harry continued to taunt Lucius, however, "Although I suppose if you were a little more attractive then you could use your wife's methods of surviving. I tell you, Lucius, that women can really suck a dick. She must have had a lot of practice on all the other Death Eaters while you were in Azkaban."

Lucius snarled, "I will kill you, Potter."

Harry snorted, "How many times have you and your half blooded bastard of a master said that to me? I can't help but notice that I'm still here."

Lucius launched another volley of curses, that succeeded in keeping Harry's attention while Bellatrix snuck up behind him and launched a Cutting Curse right at Harry's back. He heard her at the last instant, and threw himself sideways, but the curse still tore into his left arm. He rolled on the ground and came back to his feet quickly with his wand pointed at Bellatrix, "Crucio." The jet of light hit her and she fell to the ground writhing in agony.

From behind him, Harry heard Lucius say, "Avada Kedavra." Harry rolled forward to dodge the curse and spun to face Lucius again, while he sent several Stunning Spells, and Reductor curses at Lucius. While Harry was distracted with Lucius, Bellatrix Apparated away and left Lucius to his fate. One of the Reductor curses caught Lucius in the leg, and knocked him from his feet. His wand skittered away from him as he fell, and Harry walked over and stepped on it. The wand snapped in two, and Harry loomed over Lucius' fallen form.

Then, he spoke, "You know, I think it is only fitting that you die in the same manner as your son. Harry uttered the incantation of the Cutting Curse, and it sliced into Lucius' neck. Then, he Apparated back to the Gryffindor common room to find that everyone had already went to bed except one Ginny Weasley.

She turned to look at him when he appeared, and gasped, "Harry, you've been hurt." She rushed over to look at his arm.

He waved it off, "Its just a scratch."

Ginny shook her head, "You should go to the Hospital Wing."

Harry shook his head, "I have no desire to do so, but I guess it does need to be cleaned. I think I'll go use the Prefects bathroom."

Ginny nodded, "I'll come help you clean and bandage the wound."

Harry smiled, and wrapped an arm around Ginny's waist, "Let's go." Harry Apparated the two of them to the bathroom, and Ginny began running water into the tub, while Harry divested himself of his clothing. Then, he sank into the bath, and was imminently surprised when Ginny stripped and slid into the bath next to him and began washing the wound. Harry eyed Ginny's naked body appreciatively, and said huskily, "You know, if I had known that you were going to turn out to be such a beautiful young woman, I might would have paid more attention to you when you still had that crush on me."

Ginny blushed slightly, and said, "I never stopped having that crush on you, Harry. It just turned into something a little more."

Harry eyed her for a moment before replying, "Are you saying that you're in love with me?"

Ginny nodded shyly, "I have been for some time, Harry."

Harry sighed, "I don't know if anyone has ever told me that before. You know that I have always thought fondly of you, Ginny, but I don't know if I'm capable of falling in love anymore."

Ginny shrugged, "I don't expect anything of you, Harry. I just wanted you to know that I was in love with you, so that I wouldn't regret not telling you."

Harry smiled, "You don't have to worry about that, Gin. I don't know if I can return the feeling you have for me, but I do know that I would like to find out. So, what do you say to the two of us going out on an official date as soon as I'm through with Riddle."

Ginny smiled, "I think I would like that very much. However, unofficially, I don't think I want to wait that long to have you."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "Are you suggesting that I take you here in the bathtub?"

Ginny wrapped her legs around his waist and settled above his erect penis, and said, "I know you had sex with Hermione, and it was buzzing earlier at dinner that you did it with Susan Bones, so I know you've had experience, and I'm eager to see what you can do."

"Oh really." Those were the last words said between them as Harry grasped her hips and pulled her down onto him, and pressed his lips to hers.

A/N: I'm terribly sorry about the long delay, but I have been having serious issues with writer's block. Hopefully, I will be able to avoid that now that it seems to have lifted at least long enough to finish the story, but we will see.


	15. Battle

A/N: Unfortunately, I have little to no interest in continuing this story, so the ending is a little forced, and for that I apologize, however the ending scene is the one I planned all along, but it isn't as smooth as I would like.

Chapter 15:

Battle

The next morning found Harry and Ginny sleeping beside each other in the Room of Requirement, and Harry merely snuggled against Ginny while waiting for her to awake. When she did, she smiled up at Harry, and said, "I believe that you have completely stolen my heart, Mr. Potter."

Harry smiled slightly, "I'm glad that I have. Although I fear that you may be disappointed. As I told you last night, I'm not sure I'm capable of falling in love anymore. Not to mention, I have every intention of leaving the wizarding world once I've dealt with Voldemort, and all the other unsavory characters in our society."

Ginny raised her eyebrows, "You mean you're going to get rid of all the Death Eaters?"

Harry smirked, "Them too, actually, but I was talking mostly about politicians and journalists the first time."

Ginny inhaled sharply, "You're going to kill them?"

Harry shrugged, "Only if I have to. If I can get them out of power by other means, then I will explore those options first."

Ginny looked stunned for a moment, then resolve tightened on her face, "I understand, Harry. I want you to know that no matter where you go, I will follow you."

"Even if it means leaving your family behind forever?"

Ginny nodded firmly, "Even if it means leaving my family behind. I will miss them, but I would not be being true to my heart if I let you leave."

Harry smiled, "Thank you, Ginny. It means a lot for someone to be in my corner unconditionally."

The next week seemed to pass by in a blur with deaths on both sides cropping up all over the place. Voldemort had his supporters busy tormenting and killing Muggles and Muggle-borns. The Dark Mark was seen all throughout the country. Harry was in turn busy killing and exterminating Death Eaters and their families. The Dark Phoenix was also found far and wide. Then, finally the day came. Harry was raiding Avery's mansion and came face to face with Voldemort himself.

Voldemort raised his wand, "It is just you and I this time, Potter. You have no one to save you."

Harry snorted, "After the way you fled in terror the last time we faced each other, what makes you think I need saving, Tom?"

Voldemort snarled in rage, "Do not use that name, Potter." Then, he leaped to the attack. The battle between the two lasted long, and it was brutal to a level that had never before been seen in magical combat. By the time it was over, the two of them had an enormous audience of both Death Eaters and Order of the Phoenix members, and Aurors from the Ministry. They had succeeded in destroying the mansion and the surrounding property. Finally, Voldemort dropped from exhaustion, while Harry stood breathing heavily next to him. Harry then bound Voldemort and walked over to pick up his wand. Harry snapped it and then dropped the pieces on Voldemort's chest. Then, he smiled, "Today ends you, Tom."

Harry cast a shield around the two of them so that no one could interfere, and then performed the ritual that had been taught to him by his noble ancestor. At the end of the ritual, Voldemort burst into flames, and his body and soul were both consumed. Harry allowed the shield to drop and turned to face the crowd. Upon seeing their master burst into flames, the Death Eaters fled in terror.

Dumbledore, however, approached Harry and said, "Your battle is now over, Mr. Potter."

Harry sneered at him, "My battle has only just begun, old man. I meant every word of what I said about the wizarding world. If you value your life, you will return to Hogwarts and stay out of my way. I will not hesitate to kill you if you interfere."

Dumbledore raised his wand, "I cannot allow you to fulfill your intentions, Mr. Potter."

Harry shook his head sadly, "Then, you have made an enemy this day, Albus Dumbledore. You are no longer welcome at Hogwarts. Till another time. See if you can live that long." Then, with the pop of Apparation, Harry disappeared from the field.


End file.
